


Changing Realities

by DavidtheTraveler



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Check the Beginning Notes for Trigger Warnings, Check the End Notes for specific Universes/Characters Used, Gen, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-01-25 01:19:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 44,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12519704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DavidtheTraveler/pseuds/DavidtheTraveler
Summary: When Thomas’ longtime roommate moves out, he takes in a young man named David to help pay rent.  But what starts out as sharing a living space quickly escalates into an adventure beyond his wildest imaginings.  Join Thomas and his Sanders Sides as they befriend a most remarkable Traveler.[ON INDEFINITE HIATUS]





	1. The Applicant

“Well he seemed pretty nice.”

“I’m uncertain about his reliability given his lack of a current occupation.”

“But he loves musical theatre! He is definitely someone we could do duets with.”

“Yeah, another professional daydreamer. That’s what we need.”

Thomas just sat in silence, allowing his mental aspects to argue out his thoughts. This had been the fifth person he’d interviewed to be his new roommate. So far, none of them had been very promising.

Don’t get him wrong, he didn’t blame Justin for wanting to move in with his fiancé. But he was already missing the man’s familiar presence in his two bedroom apartment. Despite his attempts to move on, none of the candidates he had met had measured up to his requirements. Having made up his mind concerning this most recent one, he interrupted the others’ arguing.

“Guys, I don’t think he’s going to do,” Thomas said, crossing the man’s name off the list.

“Oh, this is so frustrating!” Roman quipped. The essence of Thomas’ Creativity was feeling stifled. With the necessity of finding a new roommate, Thomas had not had nearly enough time to work on videos or content, leaving Roman with nothing to do. “I still think we should keep looking for a single.”

“As I’ve said before,” Logan replied wearily, “there are no openings in our area for a single bedroom apartment for at least the next six months.” Thomas’ Logic had been working hard to analyze the various options for their current dilemma. “And since the only other option we have, which is to ask one of Thomas’ friends to move in with him, is not presently viable, our only choice is to procure a new roommate.”

“Now Logan, don’t go blaming Thomas’ friends for this problem,” Patton retorted kindly. Thomas’ Morality had liked everyone they’d interviewed so far, but that was to be expected from the part of Thomas that always saw the good in people. “They’re all in good places where they are now. We just have to accept that and move on.”

“I’m with Princey on this one,” Virgil put in. This earned a brief look of shock from the others, as Thomas’ Anxiety rarely, if ever, agreed with Roman’s position on anything. “Not about the single, since it’s obviously not going to happen. But meeting all these new people, and inviting them into your home when you don’t even know what they’re like? It’s leaving us very vulnerable.”

“I know, and I’m definitely not the most comfortable with these kinds of situations. But I can’t pay the rent for this apartment by myself. I need someone to help foot the bill.”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. As Thomas went to answer it, the others disappeared back into the mindscape. There at the door was Thomas’ landlady Doris.

“Good afternoon, Thomas,” she greeted politely. “How have you been doing?”

“Just fine, Doris. What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to see how your search for a new roommate is going.”

“Well…” he hesitated. Doris knew him well enough to guess the answer.

“Still haven’t found the right one? Well, I’m sorry it’s been taking you so long to find someone. But I might be able to help you.”

“Really?” he queried. In his mind he could feel his Sides figuratively leaning in in interest.

“I was just talking with a young man who’s looking for an apartment in this area, and I told him that I might have an opening for him. Would it be alright for him to speak with you about it?”

_Do it! If it works out, we could have a new friend!_

_And we could put this whole frustrating situation behind us and get back to what’s important!_

_It is a rather serendipitous turn of events. We should definitely take advantage of this opportunity._

_Well, Doris has always looked out for us. She wouldn’t recommend someone if she didn’t think he would work._

“Sure, I’d be willing to talk to him about it.”

“Great! Would you like to talk to him now, or would another time be better?”

“If he’s here I guess I could just talk to him now.”

“Splendid! I’ll be right back.”

Thomas watched her walk toward the main building in the complex and approach a young man who was looking away from him. Even from here he could see the bundle of light brown hair tied on the back of his head and his somewhat round physique. As she led him over, Thomas also noticed his shorter stature and the way he slightly trailed behind Doris, like he preferred to follow behind rather than walk beside.

Soon enough, they had arrived and Thomas couldn’t help but note how the young man kept glancing up at his dyed hair. But his Anxiety seemed to quiet down when the young man suddenly quipped, “Well there’s a color you don’t normally see in nature.”

Thomas couldn’t help the sudden snort that escaped at that. “Well, we can’t all pull off the long haired look.” The young man smirked at that.

“Thomas, this is David Bruce. He’s from East Texas. David, this is Thomas Sanders.”

The two exchanged quiet greetings.

“Well, I’ll let you get to it. Let me know what you decide. I’ll have my phone with me.”

With that, Doris walked off, leaving the two young men standing awkwardly on Thomas’ front step.

“Well, why don’t you come in and I can show you the apartment?”

“Thank you.”

David walked through to the living room, noting the kitchen to his left and the staircase to his right.

“It’s very nice. It reminds me of the apartment I shared with my brother when we lived in Houston.”

“You have a brother?” Thomas asked, Patton’s excited hopefulness slightly coloring his tone.

“I actually have three brothers.”

“Really? I have three brothers: two older and one younger.”

“Huh, quite a coincidence. I’m actually the oldest in my family.”

They mused on that for a moment before Logan’s prompting made Thomas speak.

“Why don’t you have a seat and we can talk about the living arrangements. Would you like something to drink?”

“Uh, no thank you.”

Thomas nodded as he sat on one end of the sectional, watching David settle in on the other end. There was another awkward moment of silence before Logan prompted him again to start talking.

“So, tell me a little about yourself. What brings you to Gainesville?”

“Well, I just got transferred here as part of my job. I’m a draftsman working for a custom process chemical company that just established a new plant outside of town. It’s been a bit of an adjustment. I’ve never lived anywhere outside of Texas.”

“So you probably know a lot of chemistry.” Logan perked up at that.

“To some extent. My real skill is in chemical engineering, which is what I was originally studying, but…let’s just say life doesn’t always work out the way we want it to.”

“Okay,” Thomas noted, filing that discussion away for another time. “How about your social activities?”

“I tend to keep to myself mostly. I’m not the most outgoing person.”

 _Finally, someone I can relate to_ , Virgil quipped.

“Other than work, family and my church choir, I don’t really interact with a lot of other people.”

“You sing?” Thomas almost lost control at Roman’s sudden exuberance, but managed to prevent the outburst from being too obnoxious.

“Yeah. I’m pretty good. I’m not professional grade, but I’m decent enough to have landed a few solos for choir, not to mention the high tenor part for our quartets.”

“Nice,” Thomas noted, finding this young man to be most intriguing, and despite Virgil’s sudden protest as the thought took shape, Thomas decided to go ahead and put the question out there.

“So, where do you stand on more intimate social interaction?”

David seemed to tense up, his head tilting down to look at his shoes. Thomas immediately regretted asking. “I’m sorry. If you don’t want to talk about it…”

“No, no, it’s okay,” he interrupted before returning his gaze to the floor. “It’s just…I sometimes find it hard to open up about that sort of thing, even to people I’m close to. Anyway, I’ve never been in a serious relationship, though goodness knows I wouldn’t mind being in one. It’s just…there’s so much pressure involved in a romantic relationship. I think right now in my life what I’m looking for is something close but platonic. Someone who I can relate to on an intimate level without the need for a romantic or physical aspect to the relationship. Does that make any sense?”

“Yeah, totally.” Thomas could feel the tension from Virgil dissipating. His lack of disapproval, combined with the others’ positive feelings toward this young man, had just about convinced him that this could work.

“Anyway, enough about me. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself? What do you do for a living?”

“Well, I’m a YouTuber. Most of my funding comes from advertising on my videos and my merchandise. But I also do local musical theatre and work with some of the local schools’ drama organizations.”

“Really? I was in drama when I was in high school. We were too small a school to try anything musical, but we did a number of popular performances, including a few One Act Plays for U.I.L.”

“U.I.L.?”

“Oh, University Interscholastic League. It’s the group in Texas that organizes most public school competitions, including athletics, music, and academics.”

Thomas nodded in understanding.

“Oh, sorry, I interrupted you. What other stuff do you do?”

“Well, I like to hang out with my friends, stay up way too late rewatching shows I’ve already seen, and seeing movies. Especially Disney movies.”

“You’re a Disney fan?” David asked, sounding surprisingly excited at the prospect.

“Yeah,” Thomas replied, trying to keep Roman in check.

“What’s your favorite?”

“ _Aladdin_.”

“Aladdin,” David repeated, suddenly doing a surprisingly good Robin Williams impression. “Hello, Aladdin. Nice to have you on the show. Can we call you Al, or maybe just Din, or how about Laddie?”

Thomas couldn’t help but chuckle. “That was pretty good. Is Aladdin also your favorite?”

“Well, Robin Williams as the Genie is definitely one of my favorite characters, but to be honest, my absolute favorite of all time would be _Fantasia_. My favorite movie with a fully developed story line would be _Beauty and the Beast_.”

“Cool. What’d you think of the remake?”

“I think I still prefer the original, if only out of nostalgia, but I loved it. The music, the visuals, and some of my favorite actors and actresses: Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellan, Emma Thompson, and…Emma Watson.”

Thomas noted the sudden dreamy look on David’s face and smirked knowingly. He wouldn’t judge the young man for his celebrity crush. Goodness knows he wouldn’t want to be judged for his own celebrity crushes.

“So you think she did a good job as Belle?”

“Yeah, she was pretty good. Of course, I’ll always love her as Hermione.”

“I take it then that you’re also a Harry Potter fan.”

“Of course. I’m a Hufflepuff, though I always thought I was a Ravenclaw when I was younger.”

“No way! I’m a Hufllepuff too!”

The two young men relished in their newfound similarities for a few more minutes before they finally calmed down. It was at that point that David piped up with a question.

“So, I don’t mean to be intrusive, but since you asked about me, I think it’s only fair that I ask about your own more…intimate social interaction.”

“Well,” Thomas began, already feeling Virgil start to put up the walls, “I’m not currently in a relationship. I mean I’d like to be but I don’t think my current lifestyle is very conducive to such an intimate relationship.”

“Fair enough,” David commented.

The two sat in silence for a moment, each contemplating the other. Between everything else, the fact that they could do so without it feeling awkward was what finally convinced Thomas to make his decision.

“You know what, I think that this could work,” Thomas said, getting up and offering his hand. “I would be glad to have you as my new roommate.”

“Really? That’s great!” David jumped up to accept the handshake.

“So, when can I move in?”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Thomas said, grinning.

David was practically beaming.

 

***********************

 

Two phone calls, four hours of labor, and one contract signing later, David was sitting on his bed in his new apartment. Thomas had said that he’d ordered a few pizzas and invited a few of his friends over to meet him before leaving him to get settled. David pondered his good fortune for a moment before falling back on his bed and almost immediately falling asleep.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that the Council had already convened in his office, ready to discuss his new mission.

“Hello everyone,” he greeted them as he sat down behind his desk. “Are we ready to get started?”

“I believe we are, Mr. Bruce,” Mrs. Frederick replied, looking as composed as ever.

“Aye. And I’m quite ready to know why exactly you’ve decided to duck out on us all of a sudden,” Stoick put in.

“To be precise, I’m not ducking out on you all. It’s just that I’ve received an assignment that requires a lot of dedication and will consume a lot of my time and energy. While I will certainly do my best to return on a regular basis, I want to make sure that this world is in good hands while I’m dealing with this. That’s why I’ve asked you all to step in and maintain order in my absence.”

“I’m still not entirely certain I understand how this mission is different from any of your other missions,” Satine pointed out. Obi-Wan nodded in agreement.

“Indeed. What makes this one so time consuming?”

“All of my other missions have been to worlds where my powers are more readily usable. But this assignment is in a world where I’ll only have access to the basest part of my abilities.”

“And what world is that?” Princess Celestia asked.

“My home world.”

To say the Council was shocked would be a gross understatement. Mrs. Frederick’s eyes widened in surprise. Stoick was gaping. Satine had covered her mouth before looking to her husband, who exchanged a similar look with her. Princess Luna had audibly gasped before turning to her sister, who looked back with narrowed eyes as they shared a silent conversation.

“Is something threatening your home?” Obi-Wan asked cautiously.

“I don’t think so. What I’ve been able to determine about the situation is that there’s another individual back home who’s like me, someone else with transdimensional abilities. And apparently their powers have reached a critical milestone that they may need help understanding. I’ve already had to influence a number of people to get me relocated to the right place to find them. Once I do, my job is to guide them in understanding how to use their abilities and what they can and can’t do with them. I’m actually really looking forward to it.”

“You’re looking forward to meeting a complete stranger with powers on par with your own?” Luna asked incredulously, with the others mirroring her sentiments in their faces.

“Well, yeah.” The Council members still looked unbelieving. David sighed.

“Look, for some time now, I’ve been looking for someone like me. Just about everyone else I’ve encountered in the cosmos with my kind of powers has either been far below me in terms of power or has already let their power corrupt them. Now I have a chance to find someone who might be able to truly understand me. Who I can travel and explore with. Who I can show what I’ve learned and from whom I can learn as well. Just the idea of such a partnership fills me with a joy I haven’t felt in a long time. I guess I’m just excited to finally not be…alone.”

The others looked at him thoughtfully. Even as his trusted advisers, there were limits to how much of David’s true attitude they ever saw. To see him so open and vulnerable was unusual at best. Finally, Satine reached across the desk to pat his arm. David looked up to see her comforting smile.

“We understand. We’ll do our best to maintain things until you can return full time.”

David sniffed and nodded before starting to stand.

“Well, I need to get back. I’ll return later, but I only had time right now for a quick nap before my new roommate’s friends arrived for a welcoming party.”

“Yes, you haven’t told us anything about this new roommate of yours,” Celestia pointed out with a mischievous smirk.

“Well, he’s a famous internet personality who loves Disney and musical theatre and is kind and generous and always wanting to lend a hand.”

“Do you think we’ll ever meet this new roommate of yours?” Mrs. Frederick asked innocently, her eyes betraying her less innocent meaning. A brief glance told David that Satine and the Princesses were thinking something similar.

“We’ll see,” he answered in a way he hoped sounded uncommitted. The ladies smirked while Stoick and Obi-Wan shared a knowing look. And before he could endure anymore embarrassment from them, he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash.

David awoke to the sound of knocking on his door.

“Come in,” he called, lifting himself up into a sitting position. Thomas opened the door and peered in.

“Hey, the pizza’s on its way and Joan and Talyn are here. You ready to come down and meet them?”

David smiled and nodded, getting up to follow him down stairs.

 _Even if this doesn’t work out,_ David thought to himself, _at least I might get a new friend out of it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Referenced Characters By Universe:
> 
> \- Warehouse 13  
> \-- Mrs. Irene Frederick
> 
> \- How to Train Your Dragon  
> \--Stoick the Vast
> 
> \- Star Wars  
> \-- Duchess Satine Kryze  
> \-- Master Obi-Wan Kenobi
> 
> \- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic  
> \-- Princess Celestia  
> \-- Princess Luna


	2. Welcome to Gainesville

Thomas woke with a start the next morning. Looking at his alarm clock, he was surprised to see that it was only seven in the morning. But before he could wonder what woke him, he felt a spike of anxiety course through him as the floorboards outside his room creaked again.

 _Now don’t panic, Virgil,_ Logan reasoned. _It’s probably just David going downstairs._

 _But why would he be up so early?_ Roman questioned with a yawn. _It’s seven a.m. on a Saturday._

Despite his fatigue, Roman’s curiosity prompted Thomas to get up and investigate. Moving quietly, Thomas made his way to his door, peeking out just in time to see the top of David’s head disappear down the stairs. By the time he’d snuck to the top, he could hear the patio door opening and closing. He quickly made his way down, but hesitated before going to look outside.

Peeking through the shades, he could see David on the back patio in a dark blue bathrobe and gray shirt and pants, moving through a series of graceful poses that somehow seemed familiar to him. He thought back through his memories for something this resembled until the image of a blue clad animated figure manipulating liquid through the air came into focus.

 _Ah, he knows Tai Chi,_ Logan supplied, sounding surprisingly intrigued. Thomas felt it as well. How many times had he said he’d wanted to learn a style of martial art like on _The Last Airbender_? He couldn’t help but watch as David shifted from position to position with grace and fluidity, until he finally went to rest his head on the glass.

The loud thunk caused an immediate change. David suddenly spun around, a little shakily, and assumed a defensive stance in Thomas’ direction before realizing what had happened. Thomas immediately opened the door to explain.

“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I was just watching-”

“It’s okay,” David said, breathing quickly. He moved his arms up in a circular motion before bringing them down, taking a deep, calming breath as he did so. “You just startled me is all. I was in a meditative state and it can be a little jarring to be jolted out of one.”

“Again, I’m sorry. It’s just that I really liked watching you. You looked incredible, so fluid and graceful.”

A small blush dusted David’s cheeks as he responded.

“Well, it’s just something I do every morning to focus my mind and jump start my body. I find that it helps me work out any mental knots left over from the previous day. But what are you doing up? I figured you’d be sleeping in since you seemed unlikely to be settling down soon when I called it a night last night.”

“Actually, you woke me up.”

David suddenly became very apologetic. “I’m sorry. Was I making too much noise? I was trying to be quiet-“

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. It wasn’t you. The floorboards outside my room have always creaked.”

“Well, since you are up now, how about I make it up to you with some breakfast?”

“That sounds nice, although I’m not sure what you’d be able to make.”

“You’d be surprised,” David said with a smile before making his way to the kitchen. Thomas followed to watch. Inside, he could feel Patton’s excitement.

_He knows how to cook! You definitely need him to teach you!_

_He said he knows how to make breakfast_ , Logan pointed out. _While that could mean he knows how to cook, it could also simply mean he knows how to put cereal in a bowl._

 _Hey guys,_ Thomas thought back, _maybe you should keep it down right now._

 _Why?_ Roman asked, _it’s not like he can hear us._

_Yeah, but you’re being a little distracting, and I don’t think I’m ready for him to start asking why I spend so much time listening to the voices in my head._

The sides relented at that.

“Now, let’s see what we’ve got here,” David said to himself as he opened the fridge. He paused for a moment as he surveyed the options before him, then muttered, “Well, I’ve worked with less.”

He briefly checked the freezer before returning to rummage in the fridge again, calling out, “Do you have any bread?”

“Uh, yeah,” Thomas replied, going to the cupboard to pull it out.

“And a toaster?”

“Yeah.” Thomas pulled it out of a separate cupboard.

“Hey, are you saving these eggs for anything?”

“Um, no, not really.”

“Hmm, are they still good?” David asked himself, taking one and examining it. “Yeah, I think they’re still good. Okay, I can make this work. Go ahead and plug the toaster in. And if you drink coffee, go ahead and start it now.”

Thomas complied as David pulled the eggs and some shredded cheese out, before calling out, “Do you prefer ham or turkey?”

“Oh, uh, ham.”

David pulled some out along with a tub of butter before starting to go through the cupboards, finding a medium pan, a small bowl, a cutting board, a few plates, a cutting knife and a fork.

“Why don’t you go ahead and get out whatever kind of spread you prefer.”

Thomas nodded, going to the fridge to get a jar of Crofter’s.

“So, what are you making?” Thomas inquired, watching as a pat of butter melted in the pan and David started dicing some slices of ham.

“Omelettes.”

“You know how to cook omelettes?”

“Yeah, I’ve known how to cook omelettes since I was eleven.”

Thomas just gaped at that. David, seeing his face, let out a light chuckle as he separated some eggs into a bowl and began mixing, adding a hint of salt and pepper.

“My parents started teaching all of us how to cook from an early age. It’s a useful skill, and one that came in handy after my mom went back to work. There were plenty of nights where Mom and Dad were so tired from school that one of us had to make dinner, usually me since I was the oldest. But even when they were perfectly capable of doing it themselves, they’d often include us in the process.”

David poured the eggs into the pan, quickly adding in some ham and cheese before letting it sit so as to start up the first batch of toast.

“Cooking has always been a family activity in my house. Granted, that does mean we’re a little more obsessed with food than we probably should be. But many of my most cherished childhood memories are focused around helping in the kitchen. Oh, can you butter those and start the next two?” He added, handing the butter over as the toaster went off.

Thomas pulled out the toast, putting two more slices in before lightly spreading some butter, all the while watching as David neatly folded the omelette over, turning it so as to check both sides.

“Go ahead and get your coffee and the spread and sit down. It’ll be done in just a moment.”

Thomas complied, grabbing his sine wave mug from the cupboard and pouring himself a cup. He then grabbed the jar of Crofter’s and a spoon and made his way to the table behind the sectional. Just as he had finished taking a long sip of the coffee, David placed a plate in front of him with the omelette, now topped with cheese, a few pieces of toast and a fork.

“Here you are, monsieur, your ham and cheese omelette with a side of toast. Bon appétit.”

Thomas took a bite. It tasted amazing. The eggs were light and fluffy, the ham and cheese were present but not overwhelming, and the salt and pepper added just enough of a kick to make them perfect.

“This is amazing.”

“Well, I told you I could cook,” David said before returning to the kitchen to make his own.

Thomas continued to enjoy it, occasionally stopping for some toast with Crofter’s, as David finished his own and sat down next to him.

“At some point, though,” David put in between bites, “we’re going to have to go the store. There’s not nearly enough stuff in there for me to work with.”

“Yeah,” Thomas conceded, looking a little embarrassed, “I don’t have that much experience with cooking.”

“You let Justin do all of it?” David teased.

“Not exactly. Justin spent a lot of nights with his girlfriend, especially towards the end when they got engaged. So…let’s just say a lot of the local delivery guys know me pretty well.”

David snickered into his glass of juice.

“Well, I’ve been trying to eat home cooked dinners most nights, even if it’s just leftovers. I don’t care too much about breakfast or lunch, since I’m out most of the time at those points, so it’s more convenient. But I’ve made an effort concerning dinner ever since…well, anyway.”

Thomas noted David’s sudden lapse into silence, but decided not to pry. It wasn’t his business if David didn’t want to share, but he filed it away with the questions about David’s education. When the time was right, maybe he would get answers.

David finished his omelette and offered to take Thomas’ plate. Thomas agreed, but followed carrying their cups and the jar of Crofter’s. The two worked together to clean up the kitchen, David washing and Thomas drying.

“So, did you have any plans for today?” Thomas asked as he put the cups back and David worked on the pan.

“Well, to tell you the truth, I was kind of hoping you could show me around town. I tend to feel more comfortable in a city if I know at least how to get home from wherever I am.”

“Fair enough. Sure, I can show you around. You want me to drive you, or do you want to drive?”

“Probably be best if I drive. I tend to learn roads faster if I’m actually paying attention to where I’m going, and I tend to zone out if I’m not driving.”

“Alright, well then give me five minutes and we can head out.”

“Actually, better make it 45 minutes. I need a shower.”

“You shower in the morning?”

“I have to. If I shower at night, I get my pillows wet, and I cannot sleep on wet pillows.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, long story, don’t ask.”

“Okay then, 45 minutes it is.”

David gave him a quick two-finger salute and headed up to get ready, leaving a bemused Thomas to finish cleaning the kitchen.

 

***********************

 

“You said it would take you five minutes to be ready,” David called from the door, looking frustrated.

“And you said it would take you 45 minutes,” Thomas replied, pulling his shirt on as he came down the stairs.

“It did. Actually, it only took me 43 minutes, but that’s not the point. The point is you said you’d be ready in five minutes an hour ago.”

“Hey, looking this good takes time.”

“Well, sorry. I didn’t realize we were operating on mom time.”

Thomas looked affronted at that. David looked back from opening the door to notice Thomas’ expression and immediately backpedaled.

“Uh, not your mom, my mom. I’m sure your mom is a lovely and punctual woman. It’s just, my mom can only be on time by being really, really early. Sometimes she seems to operate on a different time frame than the rest of the world.”

Despite the bitter exchange, Thomas couldn’t help the small snort that snuck out at that. David in turn made a small smile before turning back to the door.

“Sorry about all that. I can be a little…anal when it comes to being on time.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I should have realized it would take me longer to get ready.”

David let out a small chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“I know roommates tend to fight a bit, what with close quarters causing strained relationships and all that, but it’s kind of nice to get that first fight out of the way. It took my brother and me a month to have our first fight, and it was a doozy.”

“Well, Justin and I certainly had our issues. You wouldn’t believe the stuff I’ve made him put up with over the years.”

The two continued out to the parking lot, where they approached a small blue car parked next to Thomas’ black one.

“So, this is your car, huh?”

“Yup. Say hello to the Daveo.”

“The Daveo?”

“Yeah, it’s a portmanteau of David and Aveo.”

“No, I got that part.”

“Oh, well, anyway, hop in.”

The two buckled in, and David backed out and headed for the entrance.

“So, where to first?”

“Probably best to start with the university. It’s right near the center of town….”

 

***********************

 

“No, I-75 is on the south- _west_ side of town.”

David grumbled again as he tried to get the roads right. They’d been driving around for two hours and he still hadn’t been able to get his head around the major roadways. Listening to Thomas belt along with his Disney and Broadway playlists probably hadn’t helped, but David wasn’t about to blame the music, or his singing passenger. He was, after all, very good, and David had even quietly mumbled along to some of the songs in the beginning. But as the day had worn on, David had become more and more frustrated with his inability to figure out the city layout.

“This is a lot harder to remember,” David muttered. “I mean, Houston was easy because as long as you kept going straight you’d eventually run into one of the loops. But all the major roads here just cut through, and they’re almost all heading the same direction.”

“Don’t worry,” Thomas reassured him, “in a few weeks you’ll know the city like the back of your hand.”

David didn’t respond, but Thomas noticed the smile on his face as they took the exit that would put them back near the center of town. Suddenly David heard a low grumble from Thomas’ direction. He looked out the corner of his eye to see Thomas rubbing his stomach.

“Ooh, sounds like somebody’s ready for lunch. What do you think?”

“Sounds like a plan to me. You have any recommendations?”

“There’s this nice outdoor diner near the university we could go to, and I might be able to get a couple of my friends to join us.”

At the mention of the university again, David became quieter as he nodded his affirmation. He’d had the same reaction every time they’d passed the school. It was a subtle change, but one that Thomas recognized in himself and his sides. But as before, he pretended not to notice and directed David to the diner as he texted a few friends to see if they would join them for lunch.

Soon enough, they arrived at the diner: a cozy Italian bistro with covered outdoor seating.

“Well, this is a nice little place,” David remarked as they picked out a nice table for six.

“Glad you like it,” Thomas replied, taking the seat next to David and leaving the other sides open for the rest of their party.

“Oh, here come the guys,” Thomas said, looking behind David as a group of four came into view. Thomas jumped up to greet them, leaving David to shyly get to his feet as Thomas hugged each of them in turn. He finally turned to see David still standing apart from the group, looking sheepish.

“Come on, they won’t bite,” Thomas teased lightly as he went over to David’s side. “Everyone, this is my new roommate, David.”

David gave a small wave and a quiet, “Hello.”

“David, these are a few more of my friends. This is Valerie…”

The shorter long haired girl waved enthusiastically.

“…Dahlia…”

The black girl grinned and raised her hand in greeting.

“…Terrence…”

The shorter black boy winked and pointed.

“…and Jamahl.”

The taller black boy simply nodded his head.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” David said, a little louder than before.

“Well, then,” Thomas clapped his hands and made to return to his seat, the others following suit. “I’m really glad you guys could join us.”

“It’s no trouble,” Terrence replied while taking the seat next to Thomas.

“Yeah, it’s always a joy to get to meet a new friend of yours,” Dahlia added, sitting between Terrence and Valerie. The latter and Jamahl nodded their heads in agreement.

“So David,” Valerie began, “What brings you to our little corner of the world?”

“Well,” David started, briefly glancing at her before resuming pretending to read his menu, “I’m a draftsman at a chemical company, and I volunteered to be transferred here so I can help get my company’s new plant up and running.”

“Oh, you mean that new one on the south side of town?” Jamahl asked.

David nodded.

“And where were you from before?” Terrence inquired.

“Texas, born and raised.”

“Ooh, the Lone Star State,” Dahlia commented.

“You don’t really sound like you’re from Texas,” Jamahl pointed out.

“Well, my mom’s from Ohio, and an English major. My brothers and I were taught proper grammar and inflection from an early age. Not to mention most of my dominant genes come from her side of the family. So, I may be Texan by birth, but genetically I’m probably a Yankee.”

“So where in Texas are you from? The panhandle? Out West? South Padre Island…?” Valerie asked, looking particularly interested.

“East Texas. The Greater Houston Area, to be more precise.”

“Houston, really?!” Valerie was practically bursting with excitement at that.

David nodded again, looking bemused, and a tad wary. Valerie, meanwhile, was looking up dramatically, beaming.

“Oh, I don’t know why, but I’ve always wanted to visit Houston. It’s such a large city, and yet it always seems so inviting and open, at least to me. I even applied to go to college there.”

“Really? Where?”

“Well, you’re going to think this is stupid, but I wanted to go to Rice.”

David’s smile faded. He set his menu down and looked straight at Valerie, his face radiating a look of pure kindness.

“That’s not stupid at all. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do something different or unique. And you should never feel bad about your desires. They are a part of you. And you are perfect and special, just the way you are.”

Valerie blushed, but a small smile still graced her face. David let his own kind smile appear in return, and the others couldn’t help but grin at the sweet exchange.

“Besides, Rice is a great school. I certainly enjoyed my time there.”

“Wait,” Jamahl cut in, “you went to Rice?”

David suddenly tensed, as if he’d only just realized what he’d said.

“Yeah, for a…for a few years.”

That seemed to catch the others’ attention as they leaned in while Dahlia asked, “Oh, did you not graduate from Rice?”

“Well…there were…complications.”

Thomas could tell that the conversation had taken a turn that was making David uncomfortable, so he immediately began looking for a subject change. Luckily at that moment, a waiter came up to their table.

“Welcome to Marconi’s,” the man recited in a bored tone. “I’m Tobias and I’ll be your server today. What can I get for you?”

“Hey, Tobias,” Thomas responded energetically. “How’s it going?”

“Hello, Thomas,” Tobias replied, looking unenthused.

“David, this is Tobias, an old friend of mine from high school.”

“Oh, uh, nice to meet you,” David said, holding his hand out to Tobias.

Tobias glanced between David and the hand before ignoring it and replying rather dryly, “Likewise.”

David dropped the hand, looking disappointed.

“Anyway, what would you like to order?”

The six patrons put in their orders, David taking a little longer so as to reconsider his choice again, before handing over their menus. Immediately after Tobias left, David excused himself to use the facilities, and as soon as he was out of earshot, the other four turned to Thomas.

“So that’s who you picked to be your new roommate?” Terrence asked rather incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“He doesn’t really seem like your type,” Terrence commented.

“He’s my new roommate, not my new boyfriend,” Thomas retorted.

“I’m just saying…”

Thomas blushed.

“Anyway, what’s he like?” Dahlia asked before Terrence could continue. “I mean, besides being adorably shy and surprisingly encouraging.”

“Well, he’s pretty smart, he loves Disney and Harry Potter, he says he can sing, though I haven’t heard him yet, and he has an appreciation for the theatre.”

“So basically, a nerd,” Jamahl summed up with a light smirk.

Thomas looked momentarily affronted before conceding the point.

“Well, he seems very nice,” Valerie put in.

“Of course you think so, he just called you ‘perfect and special,’” Dahlia teased lightly, causing Valerie to blush again.

“Okay, so he’s not that bad,” Terrence conceded, “but what about his reaction to the Rice thing? What’s up with that?”

“I don’t know,” Thomas admitted, “all I got out of him about it yesterday was that he was studying chemical engineering and at some point had to switch to drafting because of ‘life.’”

“Do you think maybe something happened to him when he was at school?” Jamahl considered.

“I’d rather not try to guess before I get to know him better. I mean, we only met yesterday. If we weren’t going to be living together, I probably wouldn’t know half as much about him as I do.”

The others conceded the point as Thomas continued.

“For now, I guess we just need to avoid the topic. If David wants to open up about it, he’ll do so when he’s ready. I just need to make sure that he knows I’m here to be supportive.”

“Speaking of being supportive,” Valerie started, somewhat hesitantly, “how have you been doing?”

Thomas began to tense as Dahlia picked up the subject.

“I mean, we know it’s been a few months, but…”

“We have kind of noticed…” Jamahl tried to finish for her.

Thomas let out a breath before replying.

“Some days are better than others. But…we agreed that it was for the best, and I keep trying to remind myself of that. I don’t regret what we had together, but I also don’t regret ending it. Well, I mean…ugh, you know what I mean.”

The others nodded their affirmation.

“Does David know?” Terrence asked.

Thomas shook his head and replied, “I haven’t brought up the subject with him. All he knows is I’m not currently in a relationship. Like I said, we’ve only known each other for a day. We don’t need to know everything about each other right away, even if we are roommates.”

At that point, David returned from the facilities, and the conversation turned to how Thomas knew the others. David spent most of the meal listening to the interesting, and sometimes embarrassing, stories the others would tell about each other. While he mostly stayed silent, he couldn’t help the occasional comment, and he found himself surprised that the others thought him witty.

As their meal came to a close, the conversation turned to the differences between Texas and Florida. More specifically, a major monetary difference.

“So, the state sales tax is only 6%, but then the county also has a sales tax of 0.5%?”

The others nodded.

“Oy, that’s going to take some getting used to, or…well…give me one second.”

They watched inquisitively as David began figuring in his head, speaking his thoughts aloud.

“So, together it’s 6.5 cents per dollar, so it’s 13 for two, 26 for four, 52 for eight, a dollar-four for sixteen, too high, go back one, 97.5 for fifteen…so a dollar of tax for every fifteen. Well, minus 2.5, so every…600 dollars you leave off one. Okay, I can work with that.”

He looked back at the others, all of whom were looking stunned.

“What?”

“You figured that all out in your head,” Jamahl commented, “in about five seconds.”

“Yeah, so?”

The others exchanged mystified glances.

“It’s…not that big a deal,” David said, sounding defensive as he started to curl in on himself. “I’ve been doing math like that in my head since I was nine.”

“Not a big deal?” Thomas retorted. “David, that was amazing!”

It was David’s turn to look surprised.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen anyone who could handle numbers like that,” Dahlia added.

“Where did you learn that?” Valerie asked.

“U.I.L.,” David supplied, starting to uncurl.

“You mean that Texas school organization thing you told me about yesterday?” Thomas tried to clarify.

David nodded, remaining silent as Thomas went on to quickly fill the others in.

“So, this was for some academic competition?” Terrence asked.

David nodded again before adding, “Number Sense.”

No one seemed to recognize it, so David elaborated.

“The Number Sense competition is pretty straight forward. You’re given a sheet of paper that’s covered, front and back, with eighty math problems. You have ten minutes to answer as many as you can. But the only thing you’re allowed to write on your paper is your answers. All of your answers must be exactly correct, except for the eight with an asterisk, which are extra difficult and whose answers can be considered correct if they’re within 5% of the exact answer.

“The way it’s scored is you get five points for every correct answer and you lose four points for every question you get wrong. Unanswered questions after the last one with a mark on it, even if it’s not an answer, are disregarded, and any unanswered questions before or including that are counted as wrong. So it’s entirely possible to end up with a negative final score.”

There was a moment of silent awe before Thomas spoke up.

“And you’ve been doing stuff like that since you were nine?”

A light blush began to appear on David’s cheeks as he responded.

“Yeah…but it’s not as hard as you’d think. There’s all sorts of tricks they teach you to make it easier that are based on understanding the nuances of mathematics. That’s why the competition is called Number Sense: it’s a test of your ability to manipulate and understand mathematical operations and how different numbers respond to those operations.”

The others were still amazed at the concept, and Jamahl asked, “Can you show us some?”

David nodded, and began explaining how to multiply numbers by eleven. After a few minutes, he moved on to multiplying by 25 and 50, and then to the FOIL and DOTS methods before the bill came. At that point he showed them how to add and subtract to make multiplying by decimals easier, all the while adding in tidbits of his own experiences with math, including his frustrations about not always understanding it when he was younger. By the time the other four had to leave, David had found himself opening up to them, like he had the night before with Joan and Talyn, something he hadn’t expected to do either time.

And he would probably never have opened up so much to any of them if Thomas hadn’t been so open and encouraging himself. It was as if he knew exactly how to make someone feel safe and comfortable enough to be willing to put themselves out there. As they pulled onto the road, David couldn’t help but shoot a glance at Thomas as he addressed him.

“Hey, Thomas?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you…for lunch. It was nice.”

Thomas could tell what David really meant, and smiled warmly as he replied, “You’re welcome.”

 

***********************

 

As Thomas pushed the cart of groceries through the store, he marveled at how much David had opened up both during and since lunch. The subject of David’s math ability had led to a few stories of how David had helped his mom with cooking, in particular when she needed help figuring out ingredient quantities for recipes when she was having to double, triple or even quadruple the amounts to ensure plenty for the family of six.

This had in turn led to a discussion of the sort of things David could cook as well as what sorts of things he should have Thomas try out so as to start the process of getting him cooking. That had brought them to the supermarket, where David had made sure to get a mixture of raw ingredients and box dinners for them to use and practice on. They had since moved on to get drinks (David preferred caffeine free diet soda or pink lemonade, while Thomas got his Gatorade, coffee and tea), and were now stocking up on sandwich fixings before heading to the freezers for cold items and microwaveable lunch foods.

David and Thomas had continued to swap stories throughout, with Thomas having just finished telling about the previous Thanksgiving, when he’d been the only brother to spend it with his parents and had thus had to help with the cooking, something he still felt anxious about. David was now in turn telling the epic story of when he had cooked dinner for his parents’ 20th anniversary at the tender age of fourteen.

All throughout these exchanges, Patton and Virgil had been leaning in. Logan and Roman had both retired to their rooms after they’d left the diner, Logan to work on Thomas’ schedule for the coming week, Roman to prepare some new ideas for their next brainstorming session, but the other two had opted to stay in tune. Patton was excited to hear about David’s family exploits, and while Virgil insisted he was just making sure Thomas stayed aware of his surroundings, Patton could tell he was also intrigued by their host’s new friend, though for Virgil’s sake he didn’t mention it.

But as they continued to watch through the view screen in the commons, Patton kept glancing over to Virgil on his end of the sectional. He’d started to note that Virgil was becoming more and more on edge. It seemed a bit odd that he would start to feel more jittery, as he had been rather relaxed during the rest of the day. But regardless of what might be causing it, Patton wasn’t about to let Virgil deal with whatever was making him anxious on his own.

Very carefully, he slid over next to Virgil and slowly placed his arm around his shoulders. Virgil tensed for a moment before leaning into Patton, who took it as a good sign.

“Kiddo, you okay?”

Virgil took a deep breath before replying. “I’m just…Patton, do you think that…maybe we could…talk?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“It’s just…I’m not feeling very…comfortable right now…”

“Is being here in the store making you feel uncomfortable?”

“N-no, it’s…ugh…”

“Is it how much we’ve been opening up to David? After all, we’ve only known him for a day.”

“Sort of…”

“Are you worried that Thomas is exposing himself too much?”

“No, actually…i-it’s the opposite.”

This surprised Patton.

“Really?”

“Y-yeah, I…ugh…I’m actually glad that he’s opening up to David, and I want him to, but…I’m not sure why. It’s just so…I-I’ve always tried to protect him by having him be more closed off and careful about what he shares with other people, especially new people. And suddenly I’m wanting him to be more open, and that’s just so…so different from what I’ve always done. I guess…I’m just not feeling very sure about myself right now.”

“Oh, kiddo. You’ve been trying awfully hard to be more open with us about your struggles ever since you told us your name, and you’ve been trying really hard to compromise more with us for Thomas’ benefit. But you spent so long trying to protect him on your own, and maybe going just a tad bit overboard about it, that it can be hard to loosen up about it. Especially when you felt that you needed to be so closed off, even keeping your own struggles from us because we…didn’t quite…accept you.”

Patton trailed off, suddenly feeling the old guilt return. Virgil noticed and immediately drew his arm up to reach around Patton’s back, pulling him closer.

“You always accepted me,” he reminded gently.

“I’ve always tried to be nice to you, but…I wasn’t always as nice to you as I should have been.”

“No, Patton, you were never the problem. You were always kind and thoughtful. Even when I was doing stuff you didn’t think was right, you would still try to be as kind as possible while trying to point me in the right direction.”

“Well, thank you, kiddo,” he replied, squeezing Virgil a little in a sideways hug. “Now, about how you’re feeling with Thomas. Why is it that you feel like he needs to be more open with David?”

“I…I don’t know. It’s just…you know I’m always on the lookout for things that could hurt Thomas. It’s my job to protect him, and I…I know that with new people especially he shouldn’t be so open about himself, but…there’s something about David, something…different. It’s like…I-I’m not even sure, but something in my gut is telling me that David is someone we need to know, someone we need to open up to so that he will open up to us. I…I’m not sure how to explain it.”

“Maybe you don’t have to. Sometimes feelings don’t make sense, especially feelings based on instinct or your gut feelings, but that doesn’t make them invalid. Especially with you. You’ve always been rather perceptive.”

“So have you.”

“Not about the same things. I’m perceptive about what other people are feeling, but you’ve always been perceptive about what might and might not hurt Thomas. And if you’re feeling that David is someone we’d be safe with, I’d say that’s a pretty good indicator that we can be more open with him. After all, you only feel truly safe with certain people, like Thomas’ family and close friends. If you’re feeling that same thing with David, then there must be something special about him.”

“Maybe…” he conceded, before staring back at the screen. Patton considered him for a moment before standing up.

“Hey, why don’t you come help me make dinner for everyone? It’s about that time anyway, and I always enjoy having someone help me.”

He extended his hand toward Virgil, who hesitated for a second before taking it and letting Patton pull him up.

“Yeah, that…that sounds good, Pat. But…what about Thomas?” He nodded toward the screen.

“Well, if you’re feeling up to it, I think we can let Thomas manage on his own for a bit. After all, you think that David is someone we would be safe with. Maybe it’s okay to let David take care of him for a bit.”

Virgil thought about that for a few moments. Finally he took a deep, calming breath and faced Patton, trying to look more confident in his decision than he was feeling.

“Okay.”

Patton smiled and made to turn toward the kitchen, but stopped when Virgil added, “And Patton…”

He hesitated for a moment before pulling him into a hug.

“Thank you.”

Patton did his best to suppress his excited squeal before returning the embrace.

“I love you, my dark, strange son.”

“Still not your son.”

Patton only chuckled as the two split apart and went into the kitchen to start dinner.

 

***********************

 

David found it more difficult to focus on falling asleep that night. Usually he could do so on command, but the conversation at the diner, the subsequent trip to the store, and the nice dinner of hamburger helper he’d made for the two of them (with a small amount of hesitant assistance from Thomas) had left him with a lot to ponder. In particular was how many times his mind had drifted back to…

No, he was not going to dwell on that. It was all in the past, and everything was fine now. And if he kept telling himself that, then hopefully it would eventually become true.

But even if he kept that particular train of memories from taking off, he still had trouble getting his brain to shut down enough to let him get to work. His thoughts kept drifting back to Thomas. There was something about him that seemed to draw him in and make him want to be more open about himself. Maybe it was Thomas’ welcoming nature, or David’s own thirst for friendship, or perhaps something even deeper that David didn’t quite recognize.

 _Regardless_ , David thought to himself, _I still have a job to do._

He finally managed to relax enough for his eyes to close and his mind to take flight. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself floating above the city, marveling at the beauty of the lights strewn out below him. He took a moment to appreciate the sight before allowing his mind to spread out and settle over the city.

With his mind fully extended, he could detect every other mind in the city. And while none of them seemed to be emitting any anomalous readings yet, that didn’t mean that none of them were the one David was looking for. He would just have to take a closer look.

Just before pulling his mind back so he could start a more thorough analysis, he detected a sudden flicker of unusual activity from the far side of town. His heart began to race, and he immediately tried to zero in on it, but the flicker had already faded, not even leaving a residual trace. It was almost as if it had never even happened.

David sighed, but resumed his close up scan. It didn’t matter if there were a few false leads. He knew that he would find them soon. It was only a matter of time.

 

***********************

 

“I thought I told you this line is for emergencies only.”

“I-I know, sir, but…I saw him today.”

“You did? Heh, just as I predicted, he has come at last.”

“He’s here! I didn’t expect to see him so soon, but there he was at the diner! Do you know when we’ll be able to…you know?”

“Patience, my friend. We must be absolutely certain we’re prepared before we confront him.”

“I-I understand, sir, but…you remember what you promised you’d give me if I helped you.”

“Yes, I do. But I also remember that you promised that you would do everything I told you to. You wouldn’t want to go back on our deal, now would you?”

“No sir.”

“Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Remember that this line is for emergencies only. I let it slide this time in honor of the good news, but should you waste my precious time again…well, I believe I’ve made myself clear on what the consequences would be.”

“Y-yes sir. C-c-clear as c-crystal, sir.”

“Good. We can now proceed with our plan. Continue to monitor him discreetly. I will expect regular reports through the usual channels.”

“You can count on me, sir. David won’t be able to blow his nose without my knowing. I’ll make you proud, sir.”

“That’s all I ask.”


	3. Eclipsing Emotions

Thomas awoke around eleven on Sunday morning. He groggily made his way to the facilities before wandering down to find something for breakfast/lunch. On the kitchen counter he noticed a note from David, which he glanced over.

 

_Thomas,_

_Went to a local church Jeff recommended that still has a choir. Going to try it first before checking other churches._

_Feel free to have the leftovers from last night for lunch. I’ll manage on my own._

_See you later,_

_David_

 

Groggily, he figured that was as good a choice as any (especially since it was really good), and took the Tupperware container out to microwave. After getting himself a wine glass of Gatorade, he took the container and drink to the sectional, where he settled in to rewatch _The Force Awakens_.

After an hour into the movie, his phone went off, indicating a text. He pulled it out to read, noting that it was from David.

 

[David]: Got invited to lunch with choir director. Will be back later today.

 

He put his phone back in before resuming his movie. Around the same time that the credits started rolling, he heard the front door open and David calling out for him.

“Thomas, I’m home. And you would not believe what happened today. Apparently, Jeff went ahead and called the choir director up while I was moving here and told him I was coming to town. So after the service, he comes and finds me and invites me to lunch with him and the other pastor families. Crazy, right?”

By this point David had made it to the stairs, where he continued to take out his belt and unbutton his dress shirt. Thomas made to reply, but David suddenly picked back up with his story, effectively silencing him.

“So we go to lunch, and it turns out the director has been raving about getting a new soloist. And I ask him who he’s talking about, and he just gives me this look that clearly says ‘I’m talking about you, you doofus.’ And I just start blushing, partly because I asked such a stupid question, but mostly because I didn’t expect to be singled out so quickly.

“Turns out Jeff gave me a pretty glowing review when he talked to this guy about me coming to Gainesville. I should probably send him a thank you. Anyway, how was your morning? Anything interesting…hey are you watching _Star Wars_?”

David had noticed the credits playing.

“Yeah, I just finished _The Force Awakens_ when you got home.”

“Oh, man, I like that one,” David pouted.

“Well, do you want to watch another one?”

“Yeah! Ooh, can we watch _Rogue One_?”

“I don’t have that one-“

“I do. I’ve got the Blu-ray combo pack.”

“Well, that’s nice, but I don’t have a Blu-ray player-“

“I do. Let me just get it. Oh, and change. Be right back.”

Ten minutes later, David was in his grey bed clothes carefully installing the player in Thomas’ TV station while complaining about the apparent controversy over the _Star Wars_ movies.

“I mean, yeah, some of them aren’t as good as the others. But they’re all _Star Wars_. We shouldn’t dismiss a movie just because it’s not quite as good as another in the same franchise. You don’t see people doing that with _The Lord of the Rings_ or _Harry Potter_.”

Thomas just shook his head, grinning and David finally got it installed and inserted the disk, going to curl up in a spot that was near Thomas without being too near.

“I should probably warn you that I may fall asleep. Sundays are my siesta days, and I usually spend them curled up in a nice recliner while not existing.”

Thomas let out a light chuckle as the movie began.

The two of them watched in silence for most of the movie, with the occasional comment from one of them about some random bit of trivia breaking up the pattern. By the time they got to Scarif, Thomas could hear some light snoring coming from David’s direction, which continued uninterrupted until the _Tantive IV_ took off into hyperspace and the standard end credits fanfare began, causing David to jerk awake with a snort.

“What?” he said groggily, looking around. He finally noticed the credits playing on the screen and groaned. “Oh man, I missed the space battle. I always like the space battle.”

“Well, we could always watch another one.”

“Actually, I’m suddenly in the mood to watch _Star Trek_.”

“I don’t think I have any-“

“I do.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

“Would you be okay with the first Chris Pine one?” David asked as he climbed the stairs.

“No, that’s fine.”

David returned a moment later, switched out the disks and resumed his spot.

“So, have you ever seen any _Star Trek_ stuff?”

“A little. I have a harder time getting into it with all the technobabble.”

David gasped at that.

“How dare you. All that ‘technobabble’ is what makes _Star Trek_ a much harder kind of sci-fi than _Star Wars_ could ever hope to be.”

“I guess, but…I mean hyperspace makes sense: it’s moving through a layer of subspace. But how does warp travel even work?”

“Oh, it’s actually quite fascinating,” David began, turning so as to give Thomas his undivided attention.

“Warp travel works by creating a bubble of spacetime around the ship. You see, nothing can travel through space faster than the speed of light. But if you look at the calculations Einstein created that explain how that works, you’ll discover that space itself is not affected by that limitation. So warp travel ships create this bubble and use it to bend space so that the space in front of the ship scrunches up while the space behind stretches out, essentially warping spacetime.”

“So kind of like a black hole?”

“Sort of. The concept is the same, but the warping of space that a black hole does just makes sure everything falls in. That’s why it’s black: its gravity is so strong that not even light can escape its pull.”

“But, I mean, how do you even get something with that strong of a gravitational pull?”

“Well, when a regular star, like our sun, runs out of hydrogen to fuse, it starts to fuse helium instead, creating carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Then once most of the helium is gone, the outer layers of the star get blown away and you’re left with the core.

“But with really big stars, the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen can be forced together enough to start fusing into larger elements. And that process continues until the star’s interior is like a big onion with layers of different elements fusing into others, until you start producing iron. Iron has the most stable nucleus of any element. It takes more energy to cause it to undergo nuclear fission or fusion than would be produced by said reactions.

“Because of that, the iron starts to build up in the core. Eventually, you have so much iron being pulled together by gravity that the natural force that keeps electrons from falling into the atomic nucleus is unable to stand against the gravitational force, and all the iron atoms in the core simultaneously collapse in on themselves, becoming a giant ball of neutrons. The force of the collapse, coupled with the release of neutrinos by the nuclear change, causes the star to explode in a giant supernova, leaving the neutron core.

“But if there’s enough material left in the core, the gravitational force can actually be strong enough to override the forces that keep individual neutrons separate from each other, and the entire mass collapses into a singularity: an infinitesimally small point with an infinite amount of density.”

“Whoa, cool.”

“I know, right? But black holes aren’t even the weirdest things that dead stars can turn into. Have you ever heard of magnetars?”

As the evening wore on, David continued going on about the life cycles of stars and the different things they became after dying. Thomas sat in rapt attention, occasionally putting in a question for clarification or just making a comment that never failed to make David chuckle. The movie continued on, unnoticed, and when it finally ended the menu screen was left to loop endlessly, unheeded by the two who were in the midst of their own figurative trek through the stars.

 

***********************

 

Despite their very different life schedules, Thomas had thought that he would see enough of David for them to start really getting to know each other. Those ideas very quickly evaporated, as David was a rare sight to see in their apartment. He left early enough in the morning that Thomas never saw him, and didn’t come home at night until it was time to start dinner. And as soon as David had cooked, eaten, and cleaned up, he was upstairs in his room again, not to be seen until the next day.

While that kind of behavior in and of itself wouldn’t necessarily indicate a problem (and Thomas really had to stretch his thinking to believe that), the fact that every day David seemed to become grumpier made the matter that much more urgent. But Thomas was unsure how to address the issue. David spent so little time around him that he barely had time to figure out the best way to approach him on it.

It didn’t help that Thomas’ own days were filled with script writing, schedule planning, and video filming and editing. After all, it was about time to put out a new Sanders Sides video. The sides were rather excited about this one, as they would be debuting some new styles they’d come up with for the new “season,” not to mention the chance to discuss Harry Potter, which they all enjoyed to some extent. It all added up to long days and late nights working hard at whatever it was he was doing with his life. But even in the midst of all his work, he couldn’t help but take note of David’s growing stress.

By Friday, he decided that he just needed to get David to relax over the weekend, and then he could casually bring up the subject when he was feeling more comfortable. But that opportunity never presented itself. David had left the apartment before Thomas awoke, leaving a note that said he’d be back later. Thomas had hoped that whatever errand David was running wouldn’t take long, but he didn’t reappear until late into the evening, long after Thomas had given up and ordered a pizza.

Sunday was no better, with David coming home after church, only to immediately pass out in his own room. He came down to make dinner again, but it seemed that whatever was stressing him out was too much for him to focus on cooking anything more complicated than microwavables.

After baking some burritos for the two of them, he wolfed down three before retreating back to his room with a tired, “See you later.”

Thomas was at a loss.

“You know,” Logan suddenly started, having appeared in his usual spot, “you could just go up to his room and ask him what is going on.”

“Sure, just completely disregard his right to privacy and force him to talk to you,” Virgil retorted after also popping in.

“Virgil has a point,” Thomas conceded. “We can’t just force him to talk to us about it.”

“Well then, what would you suggest we do?” Logan bit back. “That would be the most logical step to dealing with this, but for some reason you all seem to think that it’s not a viable option. I don’t know why. It would make so much more sense to just get him to explain the problem and then deal with it.”

“Ah, Logan, you’re forgetting that this isn’t a purely logical situation,” Patton interceded, finally deciding to jump in. “Remember, David is a human being, just like the rest of us.”

“We’re not human,” Logan pointed out.

“But we’re part of a human, and like a human we have emotions, and emotions aren’t always logical. You have to be careful when dealing with someone who’s going through something. You never know what might trigger them.”

“Well, there’s got to be some way to get him to tell us without seeming to be butting in to his personal business,” Thomas put in, moving to his own spot in the circle. “What we need is a creative solution. Roman! We need you!”

Roman, having been summoned, finally joined the others.

“Oh, sorry Thomas. I was coming up with some new ideas for the video. What do you say to us wearing the actual robes as part of the video?!”

“Where do you think he’s going to get some?” Virgil argued. “If Thomas has to get a roommate to help pay his rent, what makes you think he has the money to buy four sets of Hogwarts robes for the sake of one video?”

“Well, maybe he could borrow some from one of his friends,” Patton proposed.

“Exactly, and not just the robes. We could also have different memorabilia for the different rounds. Like having one round where we’re wearing the ball caps, and one where it’s specifically catered to each of our own aesthetics.”

“Ooh, like getting me an official polo?”

“Yes, and getting a sash for myself. Not to mention a tie for Logan and a sweet tee for good old Sirius-ly Into Black over here.”

“Well thanks for thinking of me Sir Nearly-Brainless Nick.”

“That is definitely a good idea, Roman,” Thomas interrupted before the argument could escalate, “you should definitely remind me of that later. But right now, we’re trying to figure out how to get David to open up about what’s making him so agitated.”

“Well, do we know what usually gets David to open up?”

“It would seem that he generally stays quiet and cautious unless one is speaking of things he finds interest in. At that point he begins to participate more in the conversation and can even become the center of the discussion if it is something he is passionate or knowledgeable about.”

“Ooh! Like all those stories about his family!”

“Or his love of Disney, movies, and musical theatre!”

“Or his love of music, though his taste in genre could use a little work.”

“I think perhaps we could try to engage him with his more scientific interests. More specifically, his interest in space and astronomy. After all, next week is the eclipse. Perhaps we could use that as an opportunity to get him to open up again.”

“Yeah, that could work. And maybe we could get a few friends over as well so it seems more casual. Do we know anyone who’s going to be available next Monday to hang out?”

“Well, kiddo, let me just check my Bestest Friends Availability Calendar and see what we got,” Patton replied, pulling out a large, heavily decorated binder and flipping through the pages.

“I thought I was in charge of Thomas’ schedule,” Logan commented, looking a little put out.

“You are, Logan, and you do an amazing job at keeping us on schedule. But I’m the one who keeps track of when Thomas’ friends are doing stuff so we know who to call if we need a friend.”

“A fair enough point, I suppose,” Logan acknowledged. “Please continue.”

“Alrighty, day of the eclipse. Well, Joan and Talyn will be busy. Valerie has class. Terrence has to work. Jamahl and Dahlia have other social obligations. Ooh, Dominic is free! We could ask him! And, uh, Kenny is also free! We should ask him too!”

“You know, you could also ask-“

“No,” Virgil commanded, not allowing that thought to go any further.

“Ugh, psh, it’s just a suggestion, it’s not like…you know, he might want to-“

“No!” Virgil roared, making sure that Roman got the message.

“It’s just a joke. Just a casual joke, you know.”

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Thomas and the sides collected themselves.

“Regardless, Patton, thank you for those suggestions. Thomas, I believe both Dominic and Kenny would make for great company in said astronomical activity. They would both find it interesting and it would give David an opportunity to meet more of your friends. And it could lead to him opening up to them like he has to your other friends, which would make it easier for us to get him to speak of his ongoing duress.”

“That could work. That could actually work. Okay, let’s do it. I’m going to go ahead and text them about our plan. We can make this happen, and we’ll get David to open up to us. I’m sure of it.”

 

***********************

 

“What do you mean you have to work?” Thomas asked, dumbfounded.

“I mean,” David replied slowly, “that I have to go in today. They’re not letting anyone off just because the moon is casting a shadow.”

Thomas just stood there, looking at a loss. Dominic and Kenny were sat behind him on the sectional, trying not to draw attention to themselves as they pretended to watch national news coverage of the eclipse preparations. They’d tried to be as friendly as they could when Thomas had introduced them, but once it became clear that things were not going the way Thomas wanted them to, they had resolutely shut up and hoped that it didn’t end badly.

“Look,” David started, looking suddenly tired, “I already tried to get time off to see the eclipse, but I used up all my vacation time for this move. They’re not interested in the fact that it’s the first eclipse to be seen from mainland America in decades. They just want us to get the plant up and running as quickly as possible. Besides, it’s just an eclipse. That’s not exactly something special.”

Thomas actually gasped at that. The other two were prone to agree with that sentiment, but David just rolled his eyes.

“Listen, I’m already running late. I have to go now before I really get in trouble.”

And with that, he departed, leaving the others in a state of severe shock.

“I can’t believe he actually said that,” Kenny finally spoke up.

“I know, right?” Dominic agreed. “It’s a total solar eclipse. How is that not special?”

Thomas finally mustered up the will to go sit between them on the sectional. Seeing how down he was, the two men reached their arms around his shoulders.

“Hey, cheer up dude. You tried to help, but he doesn’t want it right now. You’re just going to have to figure out some other way to help him.”

“Dom’s right. Just sit back and enjoy the eclipse for right now. Things will get better, I’m sure.”

Thomas merely sighed before leaning further back in his seat, his eyes glued to the TV without actually registering what was happening on screen.

 

***********************

 

David paused, checking the time. It was almost time for the moment of greatest totality for Gainesville. So he got up from his desk and moved to the window of his private office.

He wasn’t sure how he’d managed to get his own office, but he appreciated it immensely, especially in regards to the past one and a half weeks. There had been times when his frustration had become too much for him to contain, and he had had to let it out in a rather loud outburst. And thanks to said private office, no one had been there to witness it.

He went to the window, carefully pulling out the pair of eclipse glasses he’d been saving just for this occasion. As he did so, he thought back on how he’d dismissed Thomas, and he felt the guilt return full force. It wasn’t fair to say that he wasn’t interested in the eclipse. On the contrary, he was quite looking forward to it.

True, watching a partial eclipse from the ground wasn’t nearly as interesting as seeing it from every possible angle simultaneously (which he’d done at least a dozen times). But this was happening here at home. Even by his standards that was a rare event. And he wasn’t about to miss out just because of his frustrations.

But it hurt to think that Thomas had gone to the effort of getting his friends to come over for a viewing party and he couldn’t be bothered to be there to enjoy it. The guilt surged up in his throat, but he suppressed it. _Remember,_ he thought to himself, _he’s just your roommate. You don’t owe him anything._

But David felt like he did owe him. If it wasn’t for his kindness, he would probably still be living out of a hotel. And he had shared his home, his friends, and himself with him without question and without fail. Such generosity was not something David had encountered a lot of in his life here at home. And it was so strange to have someone here who wanted to know him better, like a friend…

He shook his head to clear it of his wonderings as he unfolded his pair of eclipse glasses. He actually had two pairs, but there was no need for the second one. After all, he had yet to find the other transdimensional being.

He had been trying so hard, painstakingly examining even the slightest variance to find something, anything that would point him in the right direction. But there had been nothing.

It would have been easier if that was the end of it. But he kept sensing the flickers from the far side of town, though nothing ever seemed to come of it. Every single time he checked, he found nothing to indicate that the flickers had ever even occurred. Even checking the area by day yielded no new information.

And on top of all that, the feeling deep in his gut that told him this was where to find them would not go away. He had learned to trust that feeling, even if it didn’t always seem to be right at first. But he would have thought something would have come up by now, considering how strong the feeling was.

He felt the frustration beginning to build again, but he couldn’t afford to let loose during the eclipse. Despite what he’d said to Thomas, no one would have any work to distract them from his outburst this time. Instead, he looked out the window, pulling the glasses on as he looked up. Observing the partially obstructed disk of the sun, he hugged his elbows and began to wonder.

_What am I doing wrong? If they really are here, then why haven’t I found them yet? And if they aren’t, then why do I feel so sure that this is where I need to be?_

There were so many questions, but so few answers. And as he continued to watch the eclipse, David wondered if he’d ever find them.

 

***********************

 

“It’s just so frustrating. I’ve been looking for two weeks now for something, anything, and other than the occasional flickers, I’ve found squat.”

David continued to pace back and forth through the spacious living room. It was the day after the eclipse, and unable to maintain his composure any longer, he’d gone to see Data, who was always willing to listen.

“I know this is where they are. I know this is where they’re supposed to be. But I just can’t seem to find them. You’d think that if I was able to trace them to Gainesville that I’d at least be able to find them when I got there. But no, somehow they’re blocking me from detecting them. It’s just…I’m just…”

David’s anger seemed to finally ebb as he sat down heavily next to Data on the couch. For a moment, they sat in silence as David tried to ease his heavy breathing. Data had seen enough of David’s rants to know that while he might be calming down, he was not yet done talking, and so he waited for David to resume.

“I’m so ready to find someone like me. Someone who I can take under my wing and who can be my protégé, and my confidante. To have someone who truly understands me for who I am, not just as a friend, but…as an equal. Do you understand what I mean?”

David turned to look at Data, who looked back sympathetically.

“I do. It is how I felt after we discovered Lore, and when we discovered B4. I truly felt that I was no longer alone. And it was those same desires that led me to create Lal. I do understand where you are coming from, even if I do not quite comprehend your problem.”

Data placed his hand on David’s shoulder, a carefully calculated gesture that David had come to understand was Data’s version of a comforting hug.

“From what I understand, if what you have sensed is true, then there is someone out there. And I am certain that if there is anyone that can find them, it will be you.”

David sniffed, fighting back tears as he reached up to put his hand on Data’s, returning the gesture.

“Thanks, Data. Sorry for unloading all of this on you. I feel like I do that a lot.”

Data removed his hand before responding. “While you do certainly visit me often to speak about these…dilemmas, I do not mind. I find that they help me to understand the human experience better. They allow me to relate more to human situations, especially as I continue to try understanding the more complex nuances of human psychology. Especially in regards to…to Tasha.”

If David had not known Data so well, he might have missed the subtle changes in Data’s posture and tone. They were not necessarily emotional, but they were enough to express as such.

“I know that our relationship is not…standard. But I am trying my hardest to make it work. For us.”

David reached up to place his hand on Data’s shoulder.

“Data, you know Tasha loves you for who you are. She wouldn’t want you to change yourself just to satisfy her. She would only want you to change because you want to do so for yourself.”

“I know. And it is for myself that I continue to strive to be more human.”

David gave him a kind smile.

“And I know she will support you every step of the way. By the way, when _are_ you planning on asking her?”

Again, the change was subtle, but David could tell that Data was feeling nervous.

“Soon. I am…still trying to find the right time.”

“Well, you might want to hurry up, because she’s starting to get a little impatient. That’s not to say you should do it now. But you might want to plan for sooner rather than later.”

Data considered this for a moment before reciprocating David’s appreciative gesture from before.

“Thank you for your advice.”

“And thank you for putting up with my rambling.”

“It is no trouble. We are friends, after all.”

David’s smile grew wider at that, and he squeezed Data’s shoulder before letting go. At that moment, the front door opened, revealing Tasha and Lal. The two men stood up to greet them.

“Hello Tasha. Hi Lal, how was school today?”

“It was quite satisfactory. We had a guest lecturer in my Medical Technology class. His name was Dr. Tadashi Hamada, and he introduced us to Baymax, a prototype personal care assistant that he has been perfecting as part of his post-doctoral work at the university.”

David beamed before commenting, “Well that sounds interesting. What did you think?”

“I believe that if we were ever to work together, Baymax and I would get along quite well. He is very inquisitive and he possesses an excellent mind. And I find Tadashi…I mean, Dr. Hamada, to be most…intriguing.”

Like her father, Lal’s “emotional” expressions were subtle, but David doubted that anyone could misunderstand that one.

“Oh, Data, I think our little girl has a crush on her teacher,” David teased lightly.

“That is an inaccurate statement,” Lal retorted. “I do not wish to crush him. That would be rude.”

David and Tasha shared a soft chuckle before David responded.

“It’s just an expression, Lal. I’ll let Data and Tasha explain it to you later. How’re you doing, Tasha?”

“Not bad,” she replied, “though I do appreciate the extra help from Commander Blake and Small One. I’ll admit, they’re not the easiest duo to warm up to. But they’re determined and hardworking and their hearts are in the right place. Not to mention that Small One is just the sweetest thing. When she and Blake start cuddling, I can almost forget how powerful she really is.”

It was always interesting to see the tough-as-nails Tasha getting mushy, but David would never call her out on it…again.

“Well that’s good to hear. Let me know if you need any assistance. Anyway, I must be off,” he added, making for the door.

“Wait,” Tasha called back. “You don’t have to leave now. We’d love to have you stay for dinner.”

“Indeed,” Data added. “We always enjoy having your company.”

“Yes, Uncle David,” Lal put in. “I would be most gratified if you stayed.”

David smiled warmly and went to grab Lal’s hands.

“Aww, sweetie, I certainly appreciate the offer, and I would if I could. But unfortunately I have some business I’ve been putting off because of my search that I can’t put off any longer. Perhaps some other time, preferably soon. Right Data?”

He gave the android a knowing look, and almost chuckled again at the nuanced display of renewed nervousness.

“Soon,” he responded simply. David beamed.

“Excellent. I’ll see you soon, sweetie. Data, Tasha, until then.”

And with that, he made his way out, leaving the happy family to their evening business.

 

***********************

 

Thomas was frustrated. He’d seen less of David in the two weeks since he’d moved in than he had in the first two days he’d lived there. It seemed any time that David was home he was up in his room doing who knows what. And he seemed to take his time coming home from work, considering that it took him a few minutes to get there in the morning yet he often wouldn’t return home until a couple of hours after he was done for the day.

Thomas wasn’t sure what was going on with David, but he could recognize the signs of someone who needed a break. David had been doing nothing but work, eat, and stay in his room since he’d arrived, and the frustration on David’s face was not missed by Thomas the few times he did see him. He had even dismissed the eclipse, which completely baffled him considering how much interest in space David had shown that first Sunday. But Thomas wasn’t about to let this continue.

“We need to think of something to get David out of whatever funk he’s gotten into, and it needs to be something he can’t just excuse himself from,” he explained as the sides began to consider the problem again.

“We could have a movie night again,” Patton supplied cheerfully. “We could even have it Disney themed.”

“He’ll probably just dismiss it again,” Virgil glumly supplied.

“Must you use that argument against every idea we come up with?” Roman shot at him, earning a noncommittal shrug in return.

“I still don’t understand how he could just dismiss the eclipse like that,” Logan muttered to himself. He’d been unable to process the possibility ever since it had happened. “He clearly expressed a keen interest in space and astronomical phenomena. Why would he then turn around and say something as rare and aesthetically pleasing as a solar eclipse was nothing special?”

“Logan, I don’t think you’re going to get a solid answer for that question. At least not until we figure out what’s wrong with David. Now come on, we need a good idea, and a backup idea in case it doesn’t quite work.”

“Wait,” Roman suddenly called out, causing the others to freeze. “I think I’ve got it. Patton, you may have been on to something with that Disney idea.”

“Aww, thanks Roman. Wait, what idea?”

“Thomas, I have in mind a perfect way to get David out of his shell. But I cannot do it alone.”

“Well, alright then. What can we do?”

“Patton, check to see if all of Thomas’ friends are available on Saturday night.”

Patton pulled out his binder to check.

“Everyone’s free after five.”

“Excellent. Thomas, send a message out that we need all of them to be here this weekend. Tell them it’s a special surprise.”

Thomas nodded before pulling out his phone and starting to send out texts.

“What exactly is it that you are planning?” Logan queried.

“And how much am I going to hate it?” Virgil added.

“Let’s just say that by this time Saturday we’ll have David singing like a canary…literally.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Referenced Characters by Universe:
> 
> -Star Trek  
> \--Lt. Cmdr. Data  
> \--Lore (Data's Brother from the series)  
> \--B4 (Data's Brother from "Star Trek: Nemesis)  
> \--Lt. Natasha "Tasha" Yar  
> \--Lal (Data's daughter)
> 
> -Big Hero Six (Disney)  
> \--Tadashi Hamada  
> \--Baymax
> 
> -It's Not the Raptor DNA (A Jurassic World Fix Fic on Fanfiction.net by SkullsandDuggery)  
> \--Cmdr. Blake Wojciechowski  
> \--Small One


	4. Karaoke Dokie

Thomas looked again at the clock. It was nearly nine, and David still hadn’t returned from whatever he was doing. Like the last two Saturdays, Thomas had awoken to find a note from David saying he’d be back later. He was pretty sure it was even the same note.

But that hadn’t stopped him from putting his plan into action. He’d made sure the eight friends he’d invited would arrive on time, and was rather grateful that some of them had volunteered to bring stuff for the party, despite his objections. He’d gotten the old karaoke machine out of his parents’ storage, and double checked to make sure it still worked. And he’d acquired some updated music catalogues to use on it.

Now all that was left was for the secret guest of honor to show up. Thomas had insisted that they start without David so that he would walk in on them doing it. He figured it would help ease him into the situation if it was already underway.

The only problem was that they’d started a little after six, and while having a nice evening goofing off with great friends and good music was always fun, the undercurrent of worry at David’s absence was throwing off his composure.

“Hey, Thomas, cheer up,” Joan said, as Talyn came to the final chorus in their number. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

“Are you sure?” Thomas implored.

“Absolutely. In fact, he’s probably going to walk through the door right about-“

The sound of the door opening and closing interrupted them. Thomas looked up and then at Joan in shock. He was a little relieved to see that they too were surprised.

“I swear, I did not do that on purpose.”

Thomas merely nodded as he stood to meet David, who was cautiously entering the crowded room with a bag over his shoulders, observing the unexpected guests.

“Hey there, how was your day?” Thomas inquired, trying to look casual.

“Fine,” David replied warily. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, we just thought we’d get together and have a spontaneous karaoke party, since we weren’t doing anything else tonight.”

The others in the room nodded along. They all of course had been informed about David’s moodiness, and though not all of them had gotten to know him that well, they all agreed that he could use a distraction.

“I think you’ve already met everyone here.”

“Yeah, I have. Well, it’s nice to see you all again. I’ll just get out of your way, then.”

That took Thomas by surprise.

“Whoa, hey, you don’t have to go up to your room,” Thomas implored, moving in front of David. “If you want, you can stay here and hang with us. We’ve got plenty of snacks and over ten thousand songs to pick from, including all things Disney and Broadway.”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to get in your way,” David replied, moving around him to get to the stairs.

“You wouldn’t be in the way,” Thomas insisted, trying desperately to keep David engaged. “We’d love to have your company for tonight. Come on, don’t you want to join us?”

“I’ll pass. I am really tired.”

Realizing that he wasn’t going for it, Thomas quickly switched to Plan B.

“Dude, I just don’t get you.”

David looked a little surprised as Thomas moved to stand in front of the TV. The others’ faces were mirroring David’s shock as he turned back to look at him.

“All you ever do is work and hang out in your room. It’s like you’re just trying to get through this life without actually living it. Don’t you ever feel like having fun?”

David looked a little affronted, but turned back to the stairs to start going up.

_Time to go in for the kill._

“I mean seriously, it’s like you don’t even have any dreams anymore.”

David froze, one foot on the first step. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, he turned toward Thomas with an angry, withering look on his face.

Thomas and the others immediately tensed, feeling the tension build as David dropped his bag. Without turning his gaze away from Thomas, he moved over to take the mike from Talyn before marching right up to face him.

Despite the height difference, David seemed so much bigger than Thomas felt right then, but he held his ground, hoping his stunt had worked. David stared him down with such intensity that he almost didn’t notice him typing in a number on the mike. Suddenly David looked away dramatically and said, “I had a dream once.”

He suddenly pointed the mike remote at the machine plugged into the TV and pushed the play button, causing a synthesized concertina to start playing a song intro. The others watched in confusion as he turned back to Thomas, raised the mike to his mouth and started to sing.

_“I’m malicious, mean and scary._   
_My sneer could curdle dairy._   
_And violence-wise my hands are not the cleanest.”_

Thomas was almost smiling as David moved off to give himself more room.

 _“But despite my evil look,_  
_And my temper and my hook,_  
_I’ve always yearned to be a concert pianist.”_

With his free hand he started mimicking playing a piano while the others started to get into the song.

_“Can’t you see me up on stage there playing Mozart,  
Tickling the ivories ‘til they gleam?_

_“Yes, I’d rather be called deadly_  
_For my killer show tune medley._  
_Thank you!_  
_‘Cause way down deep inside I’ve got a dream.”_

The others joined in on backup for the chorus.

 _“I’ve got a dream._  
_I’ve got a dream._  
_See I’m not as cruel and vicious as I seem._

 _"Though I do love breaking femurs,_  
_You can count me with the dreamers._  
_Like everybody else I’ve got a dream.”_

The audience continued with the “ah’s” as David moved into the second verse, though not one Thomas had ever heard before.

 _“I’ve got scabs and scars and bruises,_  
_Plus something here that oozes._  
_And let’s not even mention my complexion._

 _“But despite my crusty nose_  
_And my excess adipose,_  
_I’d really love to make a love connection.”_

Thomas couldn’t help but note that this new verse seemed specifically tailored to David’s own perceived imperfections, but he pushed the thought to the side. There would be time for that later.

 _“Can’t you see me with a special little lady,_  
_Rowing in a rowboat down the stream?_

 _"Though I’m one quite ugly blighter,_  
_I’m a lover, not a fighter._  
_And way down deep inside I’ve got a dream.”_

The others joined in again, singing on echo.

_“I’ve got a dream.”_

_**“He’s got a dream.”** _

_“I’ve got a dream.”_

_**“He’s got a dream.”** _

_“And I know one day true love will reign supreme._

_"Though my face leaves people screaming,_  
_There’s a child behind it, dreaming._  
_Like everybody else I’ve got a dream.”_

As the second chorus came to a close, Thomas noted David concentrating on his friends, looking as if he were trying to make a decision about something. But then he started on the bridge, and Thomas realized that he’d been zeroing in on where to use each of them in the lyrics.

 _“Joan would like to quit and be a florist._  
_Talyn does interior design._  
_Dahlia’s into mime._  
_Valerie’s cupcakes are sublime._  
_Terrence knits, Jamahl sews,_  
_Ken does little puppet shows,_  
_And Dominic collects ceramic unicorns.”_

David suddenly turned to Thomas and said, “What about you?”

Thomas was somewhat taken aback at being singled out as Flynn in the song, but immediately responded on queue.

“I’m sorry, me?”

“What’s your dream?”

“Ooh, sorry boys, I don’t sing.”

If he didn’t already know where the song was going, the sight of David and the rest of his friends all pointing at the TV simultaneously would have surprised him into a state of shock. But he managed to keep his cool as he jumped into Flynn’s verse.

 

 _“I’ve got dreams like you, no really,_  
_Just much less touchy-feely._  
_They mainly happen someplace warm and sunny._

 _"On an island that I own,_  
_Tanned and rested and alone,_  
_Surrounded by enormous piles of money.”_

A cheer went up at that, and David took over again at Rapunzel’s part.

 _“I’ve got a dream._  
_I’ve got a dream._  
_I just want to see the floating lanterns gleam._

 _"And with every passing hour_  
_I’m so glad I left my tower._  
_Like all you lovely folks I’ve got a dream.”_

As David moved into the final chorus, the rest joined in for one last hurrah.

_“She’s got a dream.”_

_**“He’s got a dream.”** _

_“They’ve got a dream.”_

_**“We’ve got a dream.”** _

_“So our differences aren’t really that extreme.”_

_**“We’re a big team.”** _

David suddenly went up to the others, getting a few of them to help fill out the parts on the final push.

_“Call us...”_

_ “…brutal…” _

_ “…sick…” _

_ “…sadistic.” _

_“Or grotesquely optimistic._  
_‘Cause way down deep inside I’ve got a dream.”_  
_**“I’ve got a dream.”** _

_**“I’ve got a dream.”  
** ~~“I’ve got a dream.”~~ _

_~~“I’ve got a dream.”~~ _

_“I’ve got a dream.”_

_“I’ve got a dream.”_

_**“Yes, way down deep inside I’ve got a dream.”** _

The song ended on an exuberant cheer, and the gathered group couldn’t help but be impressed. Despite his innate shyness, David’s personality had done an almost complete 180 during the song. He seemed to have a knack for showmanship, something that the gathered group of theatre enthusiasts found particularly intriguing. They continued to applaud as David crossed his arms, a light smirk on his face.

“That was incredible,” Thomas finally managed to say.

“You sound surprised,” David retorted.

“Well, I mean…that was just…wow.”

“I told you I could sing.”

“And how,” Talyn confirmed. “You’ve got to do another one dude.”

“Well, I don’t know…” David muttered, the confidence from his performance starting to fade.

“Aww, come on, join us. Please?” Valerie implored, doing her best puppy dog pout.

David tried to stay strong, but it was obvious that he was cracking under that look.

“Well, I suppose I could stay for a few more songs…”

 

***********************

 

David was a little loathed to admit it, but he was actually enjoying himself. It had been a long time since he’d just had fun for the sake of having fun. With so many responsibilities that he’d placed on himself, he’d rarely had time to just lean back and enjoy life. He really was having a good time.

But he also had to be careful. He’d already noticed a few occasions where he’d let his own self-written lyrics to some of the songs slip through. Considering how personal many of those rewritten versions were, he wasn’t particularly interested in the group hearing them. But he figured he’d played them off pretty well. As for the rest of the songs, he was actually getting into it.

He felt he’d killed it on “Be Our Guest,” even doing an Orbach-esque French accent, to the others’ delight. And he’d found that he enjoyed the duets that he would sometimes be put in, his particular favorite being “Hakuna Matata” with Thomas, wherein he’d pulled off Pumbaa’s operatic voice, bowling the others over, and he and Thomas seemed to harmonize well together.

The one time that he was really worried about exposing his more personal feelings was during his rendition of “Let It Go.” He wasn’t sure which of Thomas’ friends had suggested it, but from the moment the suggestion had been put out there David had been nervous. He remembered well the incident leading to his making up his own personal version on the spot.

But David quickly switched back to the regular lyrics every time he noticed himself using his version, and to further distract from the changes, he pulled out his hair tie on the last chorus to mimic Elsa doing the same in the film, earning thunderous applause from the audience of friends.

Now David found himself sitting on the floor in front of Talyn, who insisted on seeing what David’s hair would look like in different styles as a way of convincing Thomas of a change for himself.

“I’m telling you, Thomas, you’ve got great hair. If you’d just let it grow out a little, there’s all sorts of stuff we could do with it.”

“I don’t think so,” he replied while looking through the catalogue for the next song.

“Well, at least let me do something more creative with the color. What about full rainbow next time?”

“Come on, Talyn,” David butted in, “he’s already full rainbow all the time. Do we really need to make it more obvious?”

When no one responded, he looked around that their surprised faces.

_Oh no, did I say something offensive?_

“Uh, I’m sorry! I-I didn’t mean to be offensive-“

“No, it’s okay,” Thomas replied, a bizarre mix of humor and intrigue showing on his face. “We just…didn’t know you knew, you know?”

“No,” David said automatically, smirking. The giggles started up at that, and David could feel his tension draining. “But yeah, I could tell. I may have been rather…distracted the past couple of weeks, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t notice a few things.”

“So, you’re okay with…all this,” Thomas queried, looking suddenly timid.

“Hey, what you do with your life is your business. Just make sure I get fair warning if you have a ‘sleep-over,’ okay?”

Thomas snorted. “Only if you promise to do the same.”

David chuckled at that. “Sure, I’ll have my people call your people to make sure we’re not tripping over each other’s busy social lives.”

The group of friends chortled at that, and David was once again caught wondering how he’d managed to become a part of such an interesting group. After all, he wasn’t exactly particularly outgoing, or even all that interesting, at least in this world. And yet he’d managed to make a whole group of friends in the space of a couple of weeks. It had taken him months to do that in choir, and years to make that happen when he was a teen.

He continued to bask in that wonderful feeling of being included as Thomas and the others debated who would be going next.

“You know,” Dominic started, “Dahlia and David haven’t done a duet yet. I think everyone else has.”

“Yeah, I think they’re probably the only pair that hasn’t done one yet,” Thomas acknowledged. “Why don’t you two come up here and we’ll pick out a song for you.”

“Alright,” Kenny cheered, “let’s hear it for Double-D.”

“And Dahlia,” David reminded.

Kenny and the others looked confused.

“I meant both of you,” he clarified.

“Oh, right.” David looked sheepish. “Sorry, that was my nickname for a while in high school. That and Bruce the Moose.”

“Why would they call you Double-D?” Terrence inquired.

“My middle initial is ‘D.’ See, high school is when I realized that I have a very common name. Well, I always knew my first name was common. I mean, when I was in fourth grade, I was one of four David’s in homeroom, and three of us sat at the same table. But in high school I found out how many David Bruce’s there are in the world. Seriously, there are twelve of us with Wikipedia pages.

“So that’s when I started including my middle initial in my signature. And then I started doing a loop around my signed D’s to emphasize the doubled letter. Some of my friends picked up on it and jokingly called me Double-D. And I liked it, so I went with it, until I found out that it was also a term for a bra size, at which point I made sure it died a quick death. I was not going to go through the Gertrude situation again.”

The others looked concerned.

“The Gertrude situation?” Jamahl asked cautiously.

“Long story, don’t ask."

David fell silent after that, and was grateful when the group collectively decided to move on.

“So, is there anything in particular that you guys would like to do?” Thomas asked, returning to the catalogue.

“Oh, it doesn’t matter,” Dahlia said dismissively. “As long as it mostly features him, we’ll be fine.”

David paused at that.

“How come? I thought you’d been doing well tonight.”

“Not as well as you. You’ve been awesome. I’ve just been simple little old me.”

The way she said it caught David off guard, and he wasn’t sure what to do about her passive self-deprecation. It was one thing for David to be dismissive of himself, but he wasn’t about to let someone else do it to themselves. Then suddenly, an idea struck him, and David immediately began putting it into practice.

“Actually, now that I think about it, this is not going to work.”

The gathered friends, and Dahlia in particular, looked shocked at that, but David had a plan, and he wasn’t about to stop it just because they didn’t understand.

“Now is not the time for us to do a duet together,” he continued, as he pulled one of Thomas’ dining chairs over in front of the TV. “Because what you need is a little confidence boost.”

He held out his hand to Dahlia, who hesitantly took it. He then guided her to sit on the chair as he typed in the number on his mike. Soon enough, a jazzy song intro began, and David allowed himself to slip into serenade mode as he moved to stand next to Dahlia, a hand on the back of her chair.

 _“Some day_  
_When I’m awfully low,_  
_When the world is cold,_  
_I will feel a glow_  
_Just thinking of you_  
_And the way you look tonight.”_

Suddenly realizing what was happening, the audience began to smile, while Dahlia broke out with a deep blush. David simply smiled harder as he moved over to her other side for the next stanza.

 _“Yes you’re lovely,_  
_With your smile so warm,_  
_And your cheeks so soft._  
_There is nothing for me_  
_But to love you_  
_And the way you look tonight.”_

He got down on one knee next to her, taking her hand as he continued on, causing her to smile shyly.

 _“With each word_  
_Your tenderness grows,_  
_Tearing my fears apart.”_

The dramatic serenading caused her to laugh, and David beamed at the fortuitousness.

 _“And that laugh_  
_Wrinkles your nose,_  
_Touching this foolish heart.”_

Carefully, he began to stand, pulling her up with him and moving the chair out of the way for the upcoming instrumental break.

 _“Lovely_  
_And never ever change._  
_Keep that precious charm._  
_Won’t you please arrange it?_  
_‘Cause I love you_  
_Just the way you look tonight.”_

As the instrumental break started, David pulled her close, doing a simple two-step around the front area. He could hear the others whooping at them, but he kept his focus on Dahlia, who was looking so shy, and yet so grateful. He slowed down and pulled away as the chorus kicked back in.

 _“And that laugh_  
_Wrinkles your nose,_  
_Touching this foolish heart.”_

He carefully returned the chair and let her down into it as the final verse continued.

 _“Lovely_  
_And don’t you ever change._  
_Keep that precious charm._  
_Won’t you please arrange it?_  
_‘Cause I love you_  
_Just the way you look tonight.”_

He returned to his knee, putting on the best look of adoration he could muster for the last line.

_“Just the way you look tonight.”_

As the song ended, David kept looking into Dahlia’s eyes with the utmost kindness in his expression. The others applauded enthusiastically. Finally, David broke the look, staring down with a blush on his cheeks before standing and offering his hand to her.

“That was so sweet,” Talyn cooed as he helped Dahlia up. She shot him another quick glance before pulling him into a hug, which he returned after a moment of surprise.

“You’re quite the charmer there, aren’t you?” Kenny quipped, smirking.

“Psh, if only,” David retorted, pulling away. “I’ve never even had a chance to use it on a girl.”

“Well, you just did,” Dominic pointed out.

“Oh, she knows it was purely platonic, right?” He retorted, looking to Dahlia for confirmation, which she gave with a quick nod. “I’d never try a stunt like that as a first move.”

“Hmm, you could’ve fooled me,” Terrence commented.

“Anyway, are you ready for our duet?” David inquired, turning back to Dahlia.

“Yeah, I think so. You got anything in mind?”

“Well, channeling Old Blue Eyes always makes me think of _Hairspray_. Would you be up to doing ‘Timeless to Me’ with me?”

She hummed a laugh. “Sounds good to me.”

David smiled and the others assented as he punched in the number.

“How do you know all the numbers to the songs?” Valerie suddenly asked.

“Eidetic memory. I only had to look through the list once, and I memorized it. Also, we had the same system when I was a kid, with the same classic catalogues and everything.”

The crowd sat in silent amazement at that as the song started up.

“Alright, Dahlia, you can start us out.”

“But the first part is Wilbur’s.”

“I know. I always do Edna’s part.”

“Why?”

“Because,” David interrupted himself to do a hair flip, “I’m the pretty one.”

There was a series of snorts at that.

“Hey,” he retorted, “don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. Just hate me because I flaunt it.”

The audience couldn’t help guffawing at that, and Dahlia was so shaken with suppressed giggles that she almost missed her cue to start the song.

 

***********************

 

It was nearly midnight. Everyone was just about ready to call it a night, but they all insisted that David sing one last song. He kept trying to get out of it, suggesting that a group song would be more appropriate for the final number, but they argued that he hadn’t been there for the first half of the night and that he had proved himself quite well since joining them. Eventually he had relented, but the others were having a hard time picking out the right song.

Thomas was silently watching them consider their options while inside his mind Logan and Roman were comparing notes on the various songs David had sung. Something about the way he sang certain songs and how he didn’t always use the standard lyrics seemed off to Thomas, and the two sides were painstakingly examining his performances to figure it out.

“So he definitely used an altered version of verse two on ‘I’ve Got a Dream’ that seemed more tailored to his specific appearance, or at least his perception of it,” Logan reasoned, Roman nodding his head in affirmation.

“And he occasionally used different lyrics when we got him to do ‘Let It Go,’” Roman added.

“Yes, and when he did, he always noticed and immediately switched back to the standard lyrics. It’s interesting how he sang those particular songs with such passion.”

“Well, all of his performances were pretty passionate,” Roman retorted.

“While he certainly was quite exuberant in his singing, I was referring to the way certain songs seemed to resonate with him on a deeper, more personal level.”

Roman started to retort, but then closed his mouth as he considered this.

“It just seems that no matter how nonchalant David tries to be about his own feelings, he does possess some very strong and deeply ingrained emotions concerning himself and his situation. The way he seemed to resonate with that second verse, and his performance of ‘Let It Go.’ It would appear that David has a much more complicated, and perhaps less positive, opinion of himself than we first assumed. And yet, while he refuses to acknowledge his own struggles, he’s more than willing to quickly try and help someone else with theirs.”

“It certainly is possible that we misjudged him,” Roman acknowledged finally, “but there’s not a whole lot we can do to get him to open up to us about it. I can see it, though, a deep-seated longing that has become a part of who he is.”

“If there was only a way we could test our hypothesis without alerting the others or inadvertently causing him to withdraw.”

They watched David through Thomas’ eyes, observing him as he sat looking contemplative in front of Talyn. They were now doing his hair up in two loose bundles on either side of his head. The image sparked something in Thomas’ memories, and the two sides looked to each other before nodding in agreement.

“What about ‘Who I’d Be’ from _Shrek the Musical_?” Thomas volunteered.

The others, though briefly surprised at hearing Thomas speak up, jumped on the idea and immediately began setting it up. David had suddenly appeared apprehensive, but didn’t argue as they coaxed him up in front. Once he was in position, he was handed a mike as the song intro began to play.

 

***********************

 

David did not like this one bit. He knew how personal this song was to him. So personal, in fact, that he had never felt the need to rewrite it. But there was no backing out now. With resignation in his heart, he switched to performance mode and began to sing.

 _“I guess I’d be a hero,_  
_With sword and armor clashing,_  
_Looking semi-dashing,_  
_A shield within my grip.”_

He started out quiet, hesitant almost, trying not to let the emotions cloud his performance.

 _“Or else I’d be a Viking,_  
_And live a life of daring,_  
_While smelling like a herring_  
_Upon a Viking ship.”_

The small bit of humor didn’t even phase his audience, though he assumed that was because they’d heard it so many times before. He pressed on.

 _“I’d sail away,_  
_I’d see the world,_  
_I’d reach the farthest reaches._  
_I’d feel the wind,_  
_I’d taste the salt and sea,_  
_And maybe storm some beaches._

 _“That’s who I’d be._  
_That’s who I’d be.”_

Despite his trepidation, the feel of the performance was taking over, and David’s voice only grew more confident has he slipped further into the song’s magic.

 _“Or I could be a poet_  
_And write a different story:_  
_One that tells of glory_  
_And wiped away the lies.”_

David’s heart briefly panged at that last word, but fortunately he was so locked into autoplay that it couldn’t shake him.

 _“And to the skies I’d throw it._  
_The stars would do the telling,_  
_The moon would help with spelling,_  
_And night would dot the ‘i’s.”_

He could feel the buildup as the song grew more exuberant. Knowing full well what was to come, he surrendered himself completely to the mood.

 _“I’d write a verse,_  
_Recite a joke_  
_With wit and perfect timing._  
_I’d share my heart,_  
_Confess the things I yearn,_  
_And do it all while rhyming._

 _“But we all learn._  
_But we all learn.”_

The dark turn, even when on full autopilot, always hurt, but David just channeled that pain right back into the performance. After all, there was a reason he’d never changed the lyrics.

 _“An ogre always hides._  
_An ogre’s fate is known._  
_An ogre always stays_  
_In the dark and all alone.”_

The passion, the pain, the memories, they were all building, and David had no reason to stop them from spilling out now. Not even the onlookers around him.

 _“So yes I’d be a hero._  
_And if my wish were granted,_  
_Life would be enchanted,_  
_Or so the stories say."_

There was no more audience, just the song, the singer, and the still hopeful longing of a broken heart.

 _“Of course I’d be a hero,_  
_And I would scale the tower_  
_To save a hot house flower_  
_And carry her away."_

He could see it in his head, the old image of a woman who would love him for who he was. An image he’d banished from his mind long ago, now once again brought to the light.

 _“But standing guard_  
_Would be a beast._  
_I’d somehow overwhelm it._  
_I’d get the girl,_  
_I’d take a breath,_  
_Then I’d remove my helmet."_

The hesitation, the fear, so potent, and yet so brief as the image began to smile at him.

 _“We’d stand and stare,_  
_We’d speak of love,_  
_We’d feel the stars ascending._  
_We’d share a kiss,_  
_I’d find my destiny,_  
_I’d have a hero’s ending."_

The triumph, the joy, so strong, despite the long years of pain.

 _“A perfect happy ending._  
_That’s how it would be:_  
_A big bright beautiful world."_

And then it was all gone, leaving nothing but the cold loneliness of before.

_“But not for me.”_

Before David had even finished holding the last note, he heard someone else join in on the accompaniment.

 _“An ogre always hides._  
_An ogre’s fate is known.”_

Thomas had stepped in to do the duet part at the end of the song. David couldn’t help but stare at him in wonder as they continued.

 _“An ogre always stays_  
_In the dark.”_

_“You’re all alone.”_

_“All alone.”_

Despite Thomas’ addition, David still dutifully sang out the last verse, Thomas joining in on Donkey’s part.

_“So yes I’d be a hero,  
_And if my wish were granted,”__

_“You’re all alone.”_

_“Life would be enchanted,_  
_Or so the stories say.”_

_“You need a pal.”_

_“Of course I’d be a hero,”_

_“My calendar’s open.”_

_“And I would scale the tower,_  
_To save a hot house flower,”_

_“You need me.”_

_“And carry her away.”_

David’s thoughts continued to race at the implications of what Thomas was singing as they joined together for the last lines.

 _“A perfect happy ending._  
_That’s how it would be.”_

The applause at their performance was extraordinary. David couldn’t help but continue to stare at Thomas. He was looking at him strangely, but all David could focus on was what Thomas had sung. The fact that he had joined in, insisting without hesitation to fill the missing role, was now bringing to light what David had been subconsciously thinking since he’d first met Thomas.

That there was a connection between them, and it had only grown stronger. In light of his lack of success at finding the other transdimensional being, his mind began to fill with new possibilities as to what he was doing. But the continued applause eventually pulled his mind back to the present, and he resumed his more defensive mode, trying to brush off the performance as nothing more than standard musical passion.

He refused to make eye contact with Thomas as the others helped them clean up, and as soon as the last guest had left and the karaoke machine was shut down and put away, he quickly muttered a good night before locking himself in his room, trying to delude himself into thinking that it didn’t really matter.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tie-In Material:
> 
> David singing "The Way You Look Tonight":
> 
> https://davidthetraveler.tumblr.com/post/170885509690/the-way-you-look-tonight-in-the-style-of-frank


	5. Nighttime Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings:  
> -Anxiety Attack

“Oh, we were so close. If he’d just not gotten scared at the last minute, we would have had him.”

Roman was pacing back and forth in the commons. The four were continuing to discuss the events of the evening as Thomas went through his nightly routine, silently listening to their conversation. While Logan, Patton, and Virgil sat on the sectional, pondering, Roman couldn’t help but feel the need to more around.

“I mean, we clearly spelled it out for him that Thomas was there for him no matter what might be troubling him, but he still has to be all secretive and closed off, like…like…”

He faltered for a moment, looking for an appropriate comparison, when his thoughts were interrupted by a low voice quietly saying, “Like me.”

Roman and the other two older sides turned to the youngest. Virgil had barely said a word all night, and to hear him now was unexpected. He didn’t even seem to notice that they were staring at him as he continued.

“He reminds me of me. He’s afraid of opening up to people, afraid of showing his true self. He thinks he needs to hide who he is, to stand on his own without anyone else. Probably because he has been for a long time. He wants so desperately to have someone to lean on, but is afraid of being that vulnerable with anyone. Probably because he’s had bad experiences with that sort of thing in the past, or because he doesn’t want anyone to see the mistakes he’s made.”

Patton carefully scooted closer, not close enough to make physical contact, but just enough so Virgil could sense his support. Virgil closed his eyes and slightly relaxed his posture, knowing Patton would understand that as his way of acknowledging his unspoken reassurance.

“That would seem to be a very accurate description of David’s apparent attitude,” Logan supplied, deciding to move the conversation away from Virgil’s own feelings out of solidarity with the darker side. “He obviously has a vast quantity of past experiences which have colored his opinion of emotional closeness. He clearly does not feel that others would understand or accept him if he were to be truly honest about himself.”

“Oh, I just want to give him a hug and tell him it’s all going to be okay,” Patton whined. “He’s such a caring soul, and yet he’s filled with pain. I wish we could help him.”

“But we can’t unless he opens up to Thomas,” Logan pointed out. “It’s like you said before, Patton. We cannot force him to be open with us if he does not wish to be. I…apologize for not understanding that before.”

Logan locked eyes with Patton, a look of regret on his face. Patton simply smiled back, letting him know that he was forgiven.

“You couldn’t have known how deep David’s emotions were running,” Patton assured him. “And besides, you were right that he needs to talk about them in order to deal with them. But he has to do it in his own time. We can’t make him face his pain if he’s not ready to deal with it.”

 _So what do we do now?_ Thomas’ voice echoed through the commons. He’d finished his routine and was preparing to slip into bed.

“Long term, we need to continue to assure him that he can come to us with anything he feels he needs to discuss,” Logan replied. “Short term, however, there is not a lot we can do. He’s locked himself in his room, and it would probably be unwise to disturb him while he’s still emotionally charged.”

Roman let out a frustrated sigh.

“Ugh, I can’t just sit around and do nothing, waiting for him to come to his senses. I’m going to my room.”

He stormed up the stairs, too frustrated to care about the looks on the others’ faces. He slammed his door behind him when he reached his room. Though the loud sound made him feel a little better, it wasn’t nearly enough to rid himself of the frustrated energy within. So he made his way to his imagined kingdom, eventually finding himself in a large field outside the city.

“I know what’ll make me feel better,” he said to himself, “a nice battle.”

He concentrated on Thomas’ creative energies, pulling them under his control. Each of the sides could tap into those creative energies, as it was those same energies that had borne each of them all those years ago.

Logan generally only used them when he needed to use a visual aid with his explanation or if he was working on an experiment. Patton used them to create and occasionally update the homey ambiance of the mindscape. Virgil insisted on never using them unless absolutely necessary, too afraid of what horrors he might accidentally conjure. Roman kept insisting that he was just being overly anxious (“Well it _is_ my name, Princey.”), but he would never force him into something he wasn’t comfortable doing.

Besides, that meant more for Roman, who had used them to create an entire kingdom for himself to rule in his part of Thomas’ imagination. But recent events had prevented him from using them since before David had moved in, and it pleased him greatly to feel them under his control once more as he visualized the opponent he wished to face. With a loud whoosh, a dragon appeared on the far side of the field, looking not unlike Maleficent’s dragon form, though with inverted colors.

“No, no, I need something better, bigger, tougher.”

He pulled on the creative energies again, and soon the Copyright Maleficent had doubled in size, and now was sporting a large pointed witch’s hat and a head of grey hair.

“So, come to face me again, oh foolish prince,” the dragon witch roared at him. He smirked and drew his sword, ready to face her.

“Have at thee, vile fiend!”

 

***********************

 

The other three simply stared after Roman as he huffed his way to his room. Finally, once he’d slammed his door, Logan closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself.

“I am certainly grateful that he agreed to make his walls soundproof. I would not have looked forward to hearing whatever unnecessary altercations he plans to provoke for the rest of the night. But I do agree that for now it would be best for us to retire and resume this conversation in the morning, once we’ve had time to…decompress.”

The last word was accompanied by a disgruntled glance up the stairs.

_Yeah, that’s probably a good idea._

“In any case, I bid you all a restful evening.”

Logan made his way up, leaving the still contemplative Virgil and hesitant Patton in the commons.

 _Yeah, I’m tired, too. Goodnight, guys,_ and Thomas’ voice faded away as the lights in the commons began to dim slightly, indicating that Thomas was falling asleep.

“I guess I’ll go too,” Virgil finally said. He still looked a little out of it, so Patton reached out to stop him. He looked up hesitantly at Patton’s touch on his shoulder, and when he saw the look Patton gave him, he put on a small smile and reached up to squeeze his hand, letting him know that he was fine but not prepared for a hug right now. Patton smiled back, and removed his hand as Virgil got up and headed up the stairs.

Patton was more than ready to return to his room for some rest as well, but after all the emotions over what had transpired, he felt he’d earn a cookie and a glass a milk. He made his way into the kitchen to grab them, but just as he closed the fridge door and grabbed his snack and drink, a strange sound, like a quiet whirlwind, drew his attention to the far side of the commons.

There, above his usual video spot, was a swirling vortex of energy. Patton stared, unsure what to do. He’d never seen anything like this in the mindscape before. He wanted to go get Logan and ask him to come investigate it. But just as he prepared to sink up to Logan’s room, the vortex grew inexplicably brighter and more violent, before disappearing in a flash of blue light, leaving an unfamiliar figure in its place.

 

***********************

 

Just as David had been doing for the past three weeks, he allowed his mind to scan across Gainesville, searching for even the smallest flicker of unusual activity. But if he was being honest with himself, he would admit that his heart wasn’t in it. Singing that last song with Thomas had left him wondering what he was trying to do.

 _What if I had misinterpreted the vision? What if it wasn’t about finding someone like me, but just finding someone who would_ like _me?_

David was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost didn’t notice the sudden spike in mental energy. But it was so strong that it knocked him from his wonderings and sent his projection reeling. As soon as he realized what it was, he began zeroing in on it, but only got so far before it faded.

What struck him as interesting was that it was coming not from the far side of town where the flickers had been, but from his own apartment complex. He thought he’d ruled it out because he couldn’t detect anything before, but now that he’d felt this, he wondered as he began rescanning it that maybe he hadn’t been looking for the right things.

Now that he concentrated, and opened his mind to the possibility, he could detect a low level field of nonstandard mental energy permeating the area. It wasn’t an active field, but a thick residual trace, meaning that someone with transdimensional powers had spent a lot of time here, and had been here for quite a long while.

As he began examining where the traces were thickest, he sensed another spike. Rather than zero in on it, he simply latched on, pulling himself into whatever mindscape this person had created for themselves. After a moment of seeing nothing but swirling light and color, he found himself hovering about six feet off the ground of the room he was in, and as soon as he realized this, he fell face first onto the ground.

“Oh, for crying out loud. Every single time. Can’t I just once materialize on the ground when arriving somewhere new?!”

 

***********************

 

While the strange man’s appearance had left him feeling shocked, Patton was left a little puzzled after his outburst. He simply stared, taking in every detail of the stranger as he picked himself up and dusted himself off.

He was tall, very tall, almost a foot taller than Thomas. His long dark blonde hair reached past his shoulders and was tied back at the nape of his neck. He wasn’t large, but had a modest build that seemed suited for a perfect balance between strength and maneuverability. His clothes were rather unusual as well: a pale blue polo shirt and dark blue jeans under a battered navy jacket, with a pair of brown work boots to finish off the ensemble.

What was most striking was his face, not because it seemed even stranger, but because it seemed awfully familiar. He just couldn’t seem to place where he’d seen it. But his racing thoughts were interrupted as the figure finally began to look around the Commons and noticed him.

“Oh, hello there. Wow, will you look at this place. It looks…exactly like Thomas’ living room. Seriously, you’ve really gone all out on recreating Thomas’ apartment. Ugh, you must be a fan. You’ve even altered your appearance to be like a dad version of Thomas. Well, we’re going to have to deal with that eventually, but for now let’s get the pleasantries out of the way. My name is David, and I am like you.”

Patton, still completely confused about what was happening, wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Eventually, he voiced the only question he could think of.

“Uh, I’m sorry, what do you mean you’re like me?”

“Well, you are clearly another transdimensional being, like myself. Where did you think all your powers came from?”

Patton felt even more lost at that.

“Powers, what powers? What are you talking about?”

“You know, your abilities. I can feel the energy coming off this place. You have transdimensional power flowing through your very essence.”

Logan suddenly began to make his way downstairs. He’d heard the strange noise and had come to investigate.

“Patton, what is- Oh, hello, who are you?”

The figure looked incredulously at Logan before turning back to Patton.

“Seriously, another one? Wow, it was one thing when you were just doing the weird stereotypical dad look, but now you’ve also got a strict teacher version of him as well? You know, there’s being interested in someone, and then there’s being completely obsessed to the point of weirdness.

“But, we can deal with that later. Anyway, I am here to help you understand your powers.”

Logan felt completely at a loss at these words.

“Patton, what is he talking about?”

“I don’t know. I was just getting a cookie and some milk when this vortex showed up and he fell out of it.”

“Would you care to explain why you are here?” Logan said, coming to stand next to Patton behind the sectional.

“I am explaining. I’m here to help you…er, well, whichever one of you is the real one, to understand your powers. You’re a transdimensional being. That’s where all your powers come from.”

“Powers? What powers? What are you talking about?”

The figure was clearly growing impatient, as he began to rub his temples before continuing.

“This is all going to be a little difficult to explain, but the point is-“

Suddenly there was a commotion from upstairs before a body came tumbling down into the room. Patton quickly went over to inspect the figure, discovering it to be Roman, looking disheveled and slightly singed.

“Roman, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just, I may have made this particular dragon witch a little too well. She managed to chase me out of the imagination and throw me down here.”

“You’ve got to stop her,” Logan interjected. “You can’t just let her roam around the mindscape.”

“What’s going on?” the figure asked, looking confused.

“Roman conjured a dragon witch to fight tonight,” Patton answered automatically, “and it’s too powerful for him to beat.”

“So is he the real one?”

“There you go again with this ‘real one’ thing,” Logan pointed out frustratedly. “What are you talking about?”

Suddenly the dragon witch’s head appeared at the top of the stairs as she began trying to squeeze her way down to the commons.

“Ugh, I guess we can deal with that later,” the figure groaned. “Right now we can skip to Lesson 23: never conjure something you can’t keep under your control. Sit tight, I’ll take care of this.”

The figure began to transform before their eyes, his regular clothes changing into a long flowing navy blue robe. A silvery white staff with a large blue jewel appeared in his hand. He then began muttering something as he moved his free hand in a complicated motion in front of him.

The dragon witch, noticing this, opened her mouth and let a surge of green flames shoot toward the figure, just barely missing Roman, who had managed to scoot closer to the sectional. But the figure quickly moved his staff in front of him, creating a shield of blue light to stop the flames. Soon enough, his voice began to rise as his free hand began to glow, and when his voice reached its peak, he shot a beam of blue energy at the dragon witch, causing her to explode with a powerful blast.

The figure looked rather proud at what he’d accomplished, and the others were somewhat impressed with his ability, continuing to watch him as he stood there. Roman eventually got up from the floor, snapping his fingers to restore his normal appearance. That drew the figure’s attention back to the three of them.

“Now, where was I?”

“Guys, I was actually trying to get some sleep. What’s with all the-“

The other three looked up. Standing halfway up the stairs was Virgil, staring wide eyed at the stranger. He could already feel the attack coming. There wasn’t supposed to be a stranger in the mindscape, and it was causing him to lose control. The other three could already see him beginning to hyperventilate.

“Virgil, buddy?”

Suddenly, he dropped to sit on the stairs. At that exact moment, there was a flash of energy through the commons, and the others quickly went into Attack Management Mode as they suddenly appeared in Thomas’ bedroom, a suddenly awoken Thomas gasping for air on his bed.

 

***********************

 

Thomas awoke with a start. He wasn’t sure why, but he could feel himself in the beginnings of an anxiety attack. All around him, he could hear the sides. Roman and Logan came up to him to help him, while Patton sat with Virgil, who was also in the opening throes of an attack. But what drew his attention was the fifth figure standing in the corner, looking confused.

While the appearance of a stranger in his room was enough to deepen his anxiety, Thomas found what was left of his rational thought was focused on his appearance, or rather the fact that he seemed so familiar. The hair, body, and outfit were all screaming stranger, but the face, and in particular the eyes, were all so familiar to him. But why couldn’t he remember?

The sides seemed to recognize him.

“What are you doing here?” Roman cried, moving himself between Thomas and the figure. “How did you follow us here?”

“I don’t understand,” the figure replied in an all too familiar voice, looking even more confused. “What is going…?”

And then the figure looked at Thomas, a look of dawning comprehension comingling with shock on his face. And that was when Thomas realized why he looked so familiar.

 

***********************

 

Being forcibly pulled out of the other person’s mindscape had disoriented David briefly, but now he found himself standing in Thomas’ room. Around it, he could see the four individuals he’d encountered in the mindscape, and in the middle, Thomas, starting to panic. They locked eyes, and suddenly David realized just how wrong he’d been about the situation.

He made to approach Thomas, but despite the look of recognition in his eyes, Thomas tried to scoot further back in his bed out of fear. David realized that his transdimensional form was probably too intimidating for someone having an attack, and immediately snapped his fingers, causing his projection to disappear in a flash of blue light.

Instantly waking up in his own room, David immediately ran back to Thomas’. Throwing open the door, he found that he could still see the four…individuals…still present in the room, which shouldn’t have been possible. They were merely mental projections. How could they be here in the real world while Thomas was awake?

Unless they were proof of everything David had realized, and evidence of just how powerful the person he had been searching for truly was.

But now was not the time to focus on that. Thomas and the dark-clad one were still descending into a panic. He wasn’t sure if he should focus on Thomas, as the actual person, or the projection, who might be a manifestation of Thomas’ panic. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to help them both and worry about the specifics later. He immediately took charge.

“You two, try to scoot Thomas over to one side. You, do your best to get him up on the bed next to him.”

 

***********************

 

Despite David’s sudden reappearance, and the inevitable questions that would need to be answered, the others knew that they needed to focus on helping Thomas and Virgil. They immediately complied, managing to get Virgil to sit on the bed next to Thomas as David positioned himself on the far end of it.

“Thomas, I need you to nod so I know that you can hear me.”

Thomas could barely look at David at all, still freaking out about the situation, but his head managed to make a jerking motion which he hoped David would take as a nod.

“Thomas, it’s going to be okay, I’m here to help you, both of you. May I approach you?”

They both nodded shakily. David scooted slowly closer until he could reach out and take each of their hands. He held them up to his chest so they could feel his breathing.

“Alright, I want you to breathe with me, okay? Just follow me. Breathe in…hold…and out.”

Thomas and Virgil both tried to follow, but their first attempt was choked and uneven.

“That’s okay, that’s alright,” David encouraged, “just keep trying. It’ll all be okay, just keep breathing with me.”

Where Thomas and Virgil had been almost unable to look at David before, now they couldn’t bring themselves to look away. Despite the fact that he’d been the cause of their attack, he now seemed to be exuding pure peace and calm feelings. Perhaps it was the same thing that had allowed him to appear in the mindscape, but all they could really focus on was the sense of safety they felt with him right now.

Eventually, they managed to calm down, bringing their breathing back under control. As soon as they did so, David put their hands back down and scooted as far back on the bed as he could, looking guiltily down at his lap.

“Thomas, I’m so sorry I did this to you. I didn’t mean to…if I had known…I’m so sorry.”

He closed his eyes in shame. After a few more moments, Thomas felt collected enough to speak.

“Who are you?” Thomas asked shakily. “ _What_ are you?”

David looked up at him guiltily.

“My name really is David. I really am a draftsman at a chemical company who was transferred here as part of my job. I really am from Texas and I really have two parents and three brothers. I can honestly say I’ve told you the truth about me. I just haven’t told you all of it. I’m…special.”

“Special how?”

“The term I’ve been using is Transdimensional Being. Basically, I have the power to leave my body behind and project my mind out into the world. I can observe the world around me from new perspectives, I can enter the minds of people I have a strong connection with, and I can even project my mind out beyond this world, into the cosmos.”

“You mean into space?” Logan asked, a look of intrigue coloring his otherwise cautious features.

“Not quite. More like…the space between spaces.”

This left them feeling confused, which David must have realized, as he immediately began to elaborate.

“I can visit other universes: observe them, interact with them, and even change them.”

Thomas was left reeling at the possibilities of what David was suggesting. Finally, Roman asked the question that was building in his mind.

“How? How are you able to do this?”

David had a far off look in his eye as he responded.

“I’m not sure how, or even why I can do it, but I’ve been able to travel to other worlds for a long time. At least since I was fourteen. Even before then, I could visit other people’s minds, but mostly just their dreams, as I can only do it while in an unconscious state.”

Thomas made to ask another question, but David continued before he had the chance.

“When I was a kid, I realized that the unusually vivid dreams I was having weren’t _my_ dreams, but rather the dreams my family was having and that I was visiting. After a while, I discovered that I could control and manipulate those dreams. And I used that power to give my brothers and my parents interesting and fun dreams, even bringing them together occasionally for shared dreaming.

“But even in the beginning, I was cautious about it. I knew it could be dangerous, and I didn’t want anyone to know just how special I was. After all, I’d seen all of those hero shows. People with super powers are always supposed to keep their powers a secret, even from the people they love, in order to protect themselves and their loved ones. And I would never do anything to hurt my family.

“So, I kept it a secret, never revealing the truth to them, and making sure that their memories of the dreams were vague enough that they wouldn’t be able to figure out the truth. I did that for years, until I started having even more vivid dreams of my own. At first I thought maybe my powers were fading. But then when I probed further, I discovered that these new dreams weren’t dreams at all, but other universes that I was visiting.

“So I started traveling, exploring these other worlds and having adventures. And as I continued, I discovered to my shock and delight that I could manipulate things in those worlds: myself, the environment around me, reality itself.

“Of course, I also learned when to use that power, and when not to use it. Actually, I had more than a few occasions where I had to learn that lesson the hard way. Eventually, I became an expert on when using that kind of power was appropriate. I’ve since spent my time traveling the cosmos and helping people. That is, until I discovered something I never expected.”

“What do you mean?” Patton asked, spurring him on.

“Just before my last birthday, I discovered evidence that there was another transdimensional being in this world. For a long time I’d assumed that I was alone, but finding out that there might be others like me was too grand a possibility to ignore. So I dedicated all my time to searching for them, and eventually figured out that they were here, in Gainesville. Shortly after that, I learned that my company was setting up a new plant here, and I knew that it was a sign, a sign that I was meant to come here and find them.

“It took some convincing, and a small bit of mental suggestion using my powers, but I managed to secure the transfer. Once I arrived, I began searching for them. That’s why I’ve been so…distracted…since I moved in. I wasn’t having any success at finding them, until tonight. I felt a huge spike in transdimensional energy, and it led me…to you.”

Thomas sat there, dumbfounded. This revelation had left him at a loss for words. Surely David had to be mistaken.

“Y-you’ve got it all wrong. I can’t be…that. I don’t have the power to travel to other worlds or manipulate reality.”

“And yet you can conjure living, thinking projections of your mentality into the real world for you to interact with.”

Thomas looked at the Sides, who all looked as confused as he felt.

“They’re just my Sides. They’re just manifestations of different aspects of my personality.”

David paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. Finally, he spoke again.

“Tell me, Thomas, what was your biggest concern when you were young, before any of your…Sides…had appeared?”

Thomas thought back, his mind filling with nostalgic images of an innocence long since passed. He thought of growing up in his family, trying to figure out where he belonged in it. He considered how he’d tried to figure out who he was and who he wanted to be. He remembered the first time he realized that his thoughts were talking back to him, to help him understand himself.

“I wanted to understand who I was, where I fit in, what kind of person I am.”

“Self-reflection. A desire to know yourself.” David muttered as he continued to ponder. “Yes, that would probably do it.

“You see, Thomas, powers like ours aren’t completely under our control when they start developing. They tend to be taken over by the subconscious until we learn to tap into them and fully access them. When I was young, I longed to know what others were experiencing, to see things beyond my own small corner of the world. So my subconscious worked out how to travel, and got me started on it.

“But because your concern was more internal than external, that’s where your subconscious mind turned your powers, giving the primary aspects of your personality a self-contained sentience, allowing them to understand you better than you know yourself. And in that way, they would be able to help you figure out who you are.

“What’s truly remarkable is that you’re able to manifest them here in the real world, even while awake. They may only be mental projections, but to be able to bring them here while still conscious? That’s incredible. I can’t conjure anything in this world unless I’m completely out. You must have put so much subconscious effort into these guys that they were able to begin accessing your powers for themselves.”

“You mean, those creative energies Thomas used to make us are…those are his…’powers?’” Roman queried, feeling shaken.

“We’ve always known Thomas was special,” Logan continued. “After all, you don’t hear about a lot of other people who can manifest aspects of their personality for them to converse with.”

“But we never expected our little boy to be _this_ special,” Patton finished.

David looked between them, looking curious, before resuming.

“Thomas, you must have subconsciously let them take control of your powers, and use them to maintain whatever mindscape they’ve created to live in in your mind. While it’s prevented you from fulling accessing your powers, it has also kept them under control. Without that, your powers would have turned destructive and dangerous, and could have severely damaged your psyche, as well as those around you, and perhaps others in the cosmos. They may have done you a favor by taking them under their control.”

The five nearly identical young men exchanged glances.

“Now, do you think it would be okay if I could meet them? Properly?”

The five exchanged glances again before Patton finally worked up the courage to approach David, pulling his trademark grin on his face.

“Well, kiddo, my name is Patton, and I am Thomas’ Morality. And may I just say it’s so nice to finally meet you in person.”

Patton immediately sat down on the bed next to David and pulled him into a hug. David tensed for a brief moment before returning it. Patton then pulled away, a smile on his face.

“So you represent his sense of right and wrong. That would explain why you look like a stereotypical dad.”

“Well, thanks, kiddo.”

“It’s not quite as simple as that,” Thomas pointed out, managing to find his voice again. “Patton is essentially my moral nature, but he also represents my empathy, my emotions, and the sillier aspects of my personality. Not to mention my love of dad jokes.”

“Really?” David quipped, a smirk appearing on his face. “Hey Patton, how do you know when a joke becomes a dad joke?”

“Well, I don’t know there, slugger. How do you know?”

“When it becomes apparent.”

Patton immediately burst out laughing. Thomas snorted lightly while Roman groaned. Virgil, who had yet to say a word, couldn’t help but smirk slightly before resuming his grave demeanor. Logan, on the other hand, looked confused.

“I don’t understand. When does the joke become a parent?”

“When the punchline is delivered!”

David and Patton had spoken simultaneously. Before anything else could happen, David suddenly turned to Patton and yelled, “Jinx! You owe me a soda.”

Patton looked flabbergasted.

“Aww, man. I always win those.”

“Don’t feel too bad. I’ve had a lot of practice. I do have three younger brothers.”

“But Thomas has three brothers too.”

“But there’s a lot of time between him and the older two. There’s only six years difference between me and number four. There were a couple of years where all we did was try to jinx each other.”

Patton couldn’t help but giggle at that. Thomas was outwardly grinning while Roman and Virgil tried to hide their smiles. Logan still looked confused, and it was obvious enough for David to notice, as he addressed him next.

“So, I’m guessing you must be Thomas’ intellectual side.”

Pulled out of his confusion, Logan turned to him before adjusting his glasses.

“In a word, yes. I am Logan, and I am Thomas’ Logic. I also represent his thirst for knowledge, his cognitive reasoning, and his practicality.”

“So, basically, you’re the smart one.”

“I suppose that would be accurate,” he replied rather smugly.

“Really? What’s 46 times 34?”

“1564.”

“Element 23 on the periodic table?”

“Vanadium.”

“The triple point of water.”

“273.16 degrees Kelvin at 611.2 pascals.”

“Ooh, I thought I had you there.”

“How did he know that?” Roman asked, looking stunned.

“I don’t know that,” Thomas commented, looking equally shocked.

“Okay, you’re definitely the smart one. I may need your help later for an experiment.”

Logan perked up at that as David turned to Roman.

“So then who might you be, Mister Prince Costume?”

Roman, shaken from his shock by that ludicrous statement, gasped dramatically.

“I’ll have you know that this is no mere costume. It is a symbol of my royal duty.”

“Heh heh, duty,” Patton giggled.

“For I am Prince Roman, Thomas’ Creativity. I am that which represents his hopes, his dreams, his romantic nature, his imaginative inspiration, and his love of all things Disney.”

“I had a feeling.”

“I’m also the part of him that loves the stage and theatre.”

“There’s a shock.”

Roman finally had enough at that.

“I am the reason that Thomas is so successful as an online personality and actor. Half the creative ideas he’s had would have never come to fruition if I hadn’t been there to help him along. Not to mention that I’m the best at singing.”

“That’s debatable,” Virgil quipped.

“Besides, I have a higher range than you,” David said, a knowing grin on his face.

“Oh please, any note you could sing, I could sing higher.”

“ _I can sing any note higher than you,_ ” David sang back.

Roman, feeling properly challenged, answered right back.

 

_“No you can’t.”_

_“Yes I can.”_

_“No you can’t.”_

_“Yes I can.”_

_“No you can’t.”_

_“Yes I can.”_

_“No you can’t.”_

_“Yes I can.”_

 

David jumping up to the high note took them all by surprise, and Patton couldn’t help but applaud as Roman stood there dumbfounded.

“How do you go so high?”

“I’m a tenor. And that’s just the high B-Flat. I can go all the way to the Tenor C.”

Even Logan was impressed at that. Roman, while still feeling a little put out at being shown up by David, began to smirk.

“Well, you certainly are a worthy musical opponent. But perhaps we could be duet buddies in future. The others don’t always like to sing with me.”

“Sounds like a good time to me.”

Finally, David turned to Virgil, who suddenly felt very nervous with everyone looking at him.

“I don’t think I properly apologized to you for scaring you earlier. I truly didn’t mean to cause you any undo duress. Will you forgive me?”

Virgil paused. There was no insincerity in David’s voice or face, and he thought back to all he’d perceived about him and come to realize. Finally, he spoke.

“Virgil, Thomas’…Anxiety.”

“Like the Roman poet, who wrote _The Aeneid_?”

He simply nodded his head in confirmation.

“I like it. It’s appropriate.”

Virgil took pause at that.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if you’re his Anxiety, that means that you’re the part of him that gives him his motivation to get things done, that helps him recognize danger and figure out ways to avoid or escape trouble. Just like in Dante’s _Inferno_ , where the fictional version of the poet Virgil was Dante’s guide through Hell, you guide Thomas through the problems that life may throw at him.”

Virgil was at a loss. He’d certainly thought those things about himself, when he’d tried to remind himself that he wasn’t the bad guy. And it was like what the others had told him when he’d tried to duck out. But to hear it from someone who barely knew him…

Virgil couldn’t help but let a small, grateful smile grace his lips. David smiled warmly back.

“There was a time when I didn’t listen to my anxiety nearly as much as I should have. If I had, things would have turned out so differently. But…we can’t change the past, no matter how much we may want to.”

David briefly turned downcast before shaking himself and turning to address Thomas.

“I can see why you’ve done so well. They really are great at helping you and keeping you balanced. But this also proves what I’ve been saying: that you really are special.”

Thomas still couldn’t quite get that around his head, and simply stared back.

“I mean, look at them, Thomas. They each have thoughts, feelings, and desires all their own, and yet they’re still simply parts of the larger whole that is you. No normal person could have such a complicated mental setup without it causing severe mental trauma. It’s simply how your transdimensional nature has been expressed.”

Thomas continued to ponder this as David smiled at him. There was just so much for him to take in at once. Finally, he voiced the biggest concern his mind could properly process.

“I just wish there was some proof that all of this is true. That there was some way for you to prove that you’re not just making this all up.”

“Well, there is one. I can show you.”

“Show me?”

“Yeah, I can take you with me and show you.”

“Is it safe?”

“Of course it’s safe, I’ve been doing it for years. And besides, you’ll be with me. Do you trust me?”

The reference did not go unnoticed by Thomas, who responded, “What?”

“Do you trust me?” David repeated, holding his hand out.

Thomas considered the young man before him, noting that despite the uncertainty of what might happen he couldn’t help but feel safe at the look in David’s eyes. Finally, he took David’s hand.

“Yes.”

David’s smile widened, and suddenly Thomas felt himself being pulled through a flurry of light and color.


	6. David's Universe

Thomas wasn’t sure how long they’d been flying through this whirlwind of light and sound. It could have been a week or just a few moments. It was as if his sense of time had been thrown out the window. Suddenly, it all disappeared, and he was left floating in space above a massive, rippling sphere of light.

Looking around, he found the sides, each with varying degrees of shock on their faces, floating alongside him in this void. He looked back down at the glowing bubble beneath them.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Thomas turned to the voice. David was floating right beside him, looking as content as though he belonged here, which Thomas assumed he probably did. He’d also resumed the form he’d had when he appeared in Thomas’ room, though in something closer to his usual attire.

Knowing that this was David and not some stranger, Thomas was able to calmly register the extreme difference between David’s real appearance and this form he’d taken for himself. He had gone out of his way to appear taller, stronger, and even more handsome, though Thomas would refuse to admit that he’d noticed that bit. It brought to mind what his sides had come to realize after David’s performances, but he decided not to ask such a probing question just yet. Instead, he covered up his concern with curiosity.

“Why do you look so different out here?”

“When you have the power to change yourself to look like anything you want, why would you want to look like a short overweight nerd? Besides, you don’t look the same either.”

David snapped his fingers, and a full length mirror appeared in front of Thomas with a flash of blue light. Thomas was momentarily surprised, but then looked at his own reflection. Back home he’d been in boxers and a T-shirt for bed. But now he was wearing his Steven Universe shirt with jeans and sneakers. His hair was neatly combed in that laid back style he liked, and it seemed that the color was less faded than it was back home.

“What you’re seeing is your default appearance while traveling the cosmos. Basically, your Latent Self Image, how you perceive yourself. Once you learn how to access your powers, you’ll be able to use them to alter that appearance, creating new defaults for yourself and taking on whichever form you prefer.

“I prefer this form, as it makes me feel powerful and strong, and it maintains the reputation I’ve built up across the cosmos.”

“Reputation?”

David just smiled mysteriously. “We’ll get to that soon enough.”

Thomas almost asked what he was referring to, but David started again before he could.

“What do you think?” he asked, gesturing toward the sphere.

“I guess it’s nice. What is it?”

“It’s home.”

Thomas looked at it again.

“You mean, this is our world?”

“Our universe, yes. Everyone you’ve ever known, everything you’ve ever seen and done, all down there in that little bubble of spacetime floating in an endless void. Hauntingly beautiful, if you ask me.”

Thomas looked again. That little sphere of light floating in the darkness was everything he once knew. And now he was venturing beyond its limits, something that only one other person had done before, as far as he knew. It left him feeling nervous, yet excited.

“Now, take a look at this.”

Thomas turned to see David looking away from their universe. He found that he could turn himself around while floating, so he did so, and gasped, hearing several nearly identical ones as his sides did the same.

Out in what he had perceived as darkness was more points of light than he had ever seen in the night sky back home. It was like looking at those pictures of space that could only be picked up by telescopes. He simply stared in awe, the wonder of it all too overwhelming for words.

“Welcome to the cosmos,” David said quietly, sounding almost reverent. “Out there is everything you’ve only imagined being able to see, and so much more. There are universes so like our own that it would take a lifetime to find a single difference. And there are others so vastly different, that they defy all comprehension. And an infinite number of variations in between. All waiting to be discovered.”

“Incredible.”

“So beautiful.”

“Magnificent.”

“I…can’t think of anything bitter to say about this. It really is amazing.”

Thomas simply gawked, turning to David for guidance, as his brain couldn’t quite comprehend what his mind was embracing.

“But, let’s start with something easier to handle. Until you get a hold of your abilities, it might be best to stick with My Universe.”

“Your Universe? You have your own universe?”

“Yeah. Well, it started as just a bubble of spacetime with a single rock floating inside that I used to store the souvenirs from my adventures. But eventually I turned it into an entire universe to serve as my home away from home. It’s complicated enough to keep us busy for a while, just until you’ve got enough control over your powers for us to start exploring further. Come on.”

David reached out and grabbed his hand. Thomas immediately reached out to grab Roman’s hand, who grabbed Logan’s, who grabbed Patton’s, who wrapped an arm around Virgil to hold him, which he briefly protested against before the momentum of their movement made him latch on to the parental side.

David pulled the group away from their universe and toward the brightest light they’d seen. As it grew closer, they could begin to make out two smaller lights orbiting it. Soon, the three lights had grown into grand spheres of rippling energy. The largest had a faint blue tint to it, while the smaller two seemed to be clear.

“Well, here we are. This is My Universe.”

The five looked down. Now that they were close enough, they could see inside. David’s world was flat, with open air dominating the upper half of the sphere and water and rock occupying the lower half. Juxtaposed between them was a vast realm of mountains, hills, forests, seas, plains, and even cities and towns. And in the very center was a gleaming tower that seemed to stretch as high as any of the mountains. They could see a small glowing sphere, like a miniature sun, slowly moving up from one horizon through a strange ethereal shell around the world, while another, much dimmer sphere, presumably the moon, was passing below the opposite horizon.

“It’s…incredible. You made all this?”

“For the most part.”

“What about those other two…universes orbiting it?” Logan queried.

“Well, one of them is where I keep my space fleet, since my main universe doesn’t exactly have any ‘space,’ and the other one is my sweeper.”

“Your sweeper?” Roman repeated, looking confused.

“Is it like a Roomba?” Patton asked, looking excited.

“Actually, yes,” David replied, looking a little surprised. “You see, the cosmic landscape is constantly changing: new universes are born and old universes die. When a universe dies, sometimes it leaves behind debris: fragments of itself, powerful artifacts created by its inhabitants, that sort of thing. The problem is that if those things are powerful enough to survive the destruction of their parent universe, they can sometimes float through the Void and enter others.

“That sort of situation always leads to trouble, so I commissioned this sweeper universe to occasionally float through the void wherever an old universe has perished. That way it can pick up any detritus left behind so that it doesn’t cause trouble for other universes. Then it brings it back here, where I can examine it and place it in a secure location so it doesn’t cause any trouble.”

“So, you’re like some kind of…cosmic janitor,” Virgil surmised.

“That’s part of it, but…well, like I said, we’ll get to that soon enough.”

David began pulling them closer. The largest sphere grew larger and larger in their sight. Just before they made contact, a portal seemed to open up on its surface.

“Hang on, this is going to be a bumpy ride.”

They passed into the portal, surrounded once again by a whirlwind of light and color, before it all cleared away, and Thomas found himself standing on a marble balcony overlooking a quaint city with varying styles of architecture. Beyond that in the distance, he could see the tower, stretching just as high as it had appeared, though with such a narrow profile that it didn’t seem to cast much of a shadow.

“Oh good, you landed on your feet,” David sounded relieved. “I was afraid you’d get stuck with my curse of always appearing in midair. Anyway, welcome to My Universe.”

The group stared out over the city below them, taking in the light and sound and color. It was all so vibrant, so real. There was no way this was a dream. It had to be real.

“I’m in another universe,” Thomas said. It was the only coherent thought he could muster at the moment. David seemed to understand, as he simply smirked.

“Yes, yes you are. Do you need a minute?”

“What? No, no, it’s just…it’s one thing to be told that you can visit other universes, but actually doing it…”

“I know. I felt the same way when I first figured it out for myself all those years ago. Trust me, you never get over that feeling of wonder.”

Thomas simply stared forward.

“The city you see below you is called New Ponyville, named for a similar town that its inhabitants originated from. There are five other settlements scattered across the world, as well as a number of natural wonders to explore. Not to mention the Tower, which serves as my base of operations and my personal collection of, well, everything. And we’ll get to all of it in due time.”

Thomas eventually was able to shake himself free of his shock and turn to look at the sides. They too were looking out over the city, except for Roman, who was staring dramatically behind them.

“Great Apollo’s chariot, it’s a real castle!”

The others turned to look. It was indeed a grand castle, set into the side of a mountain. Its many spires and towers stretched high above them. Directly in front of them were a set of great doors, currently open and flanked by a collection of ponies with wings and golden armor.

“Wait, are those….ponies?!” Patton exclaimed.

“Yep. This is the Castle of the Pony Princesses. And we’re here to see them.”

“Any particular reason you decided to start our expedition with sentient equine royalty?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. The Council is having their biweekly meeting today to discuss the affairs of the universe, and it’s the Princesses’ turn to host.”

“The Council?” Thomas repeated.

“A group of wise and intelligent individuals from across the cosmos who I asked to be my advisors in matters of great significance. I trust their wisdom, and they in turn support my judgment. They’ve also been taking command here in my absence, as I’ve been…occupied with other matters.”

David looked at Thomas significantly.

“Right, finding me.”

David nodded. “Now, shall we go in?”

David led the group through the doors, nodding to the guards as they passed, who bowed their heads in response. They continued to trek through the castle until reaching a large set of ornate doors adorned with four symbols: a sun, a moon, a heart, and a star. The doors were flanked by horned ponies in armor, who seemed to be holding up spears via a strange field of shimmering light. David stepped forward to address them.

“Would you kindly inform the Council that I would like to speak with them?”

The two bowed their heads, then stepped through the doors, using the same shimmering light field to open them.

“What’s with the sparkly field of light?” Virgil remarked.

“Unicorns from their world can perform magic. Mostly they use it to telekinetically move objects around, but there are also certain spells that can be performed with it. The most powerful unicorns can produce a variety of magical effects, and usually end up becoming either teachers of magic or royal mages in service to the Princesses.”

The guards returned, holding the doors open as the one on the right began to announce their arrival.

“Presenting David the Traveler, Founder of the New Universe, Patron of Peace and Balance, and Guardian of Reality. And Guests.”

A collection of glowing crystal-like ponies just inside the door blew a short fanfare as they entered.

“You get a royal announcement and a fanfare?! Can I get that Thomas, please?”

“Roman, not now,” Thomas shushed him as they approached a conference table near the end of the room. Seated around it were two tall winged unicorns, one white, one dark blue, a mountain of a man wearing furs, an imposing black woman, a blonde woman in simple yet elegant attire, and a reddish-brown haired man in brown robes. Behind them, a trio of thrones sat on a dais, each adorned with one of the symbols from the door.

“David, welcome.” The white winged unicorn stepped forward, followed closely by the smaller one. “To what do we owe the pleasure of your presence at our meeting?”

“Princess, everyone, might I present Thomas Sanders, my roommate…and fellow Transdimensional Being.”

The gathered group all looked stunned. Finally, the darker princess spoke up.

“You mean to tell us that you were living under the same roof as the person you’ve been searching for, and it took you three weeks to figure it out?”

“Um, yes?”

The princess groaned, and slapped her forehead with her hoof. David, suddenly looking affronted, tried to explain.

“In my defense, he wasn’t exactly using his abilities in the same way I have. Mine were always acting externally, while his were turned internally. See, he used them to give the parts of his personality sentience so that he could understand himself better.”

David gestured toward the four other boys.

“Well, why don’t you introduce us, then, Mr. Bruce?” the black woman suggested, moving forward with the other Council members.

“Very well. Thomas, might I present my most trusted advisors: The Council.”

The six gathered elders nodded their heads in recognition.

“This is Mrs. Frederick, caretaker of Warehouse 13, and my expert on unusual phenomena and dangerous object containment.”

“Something you might need to refresh your knowledge of, Mr. Bruce.”

David simply glared at her before moving on.

“This is Stoick the Vast, former Chief of the Viking village of Berk, and my military strategist.”

“Aye, and your personal trainer in all things combat and weapon related, don’t forget that.”

David nodded but pressed on.

“These are the Royal Sisters: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They are responsible for maintaining the day and night cycle here as well as serving as the co-heads of the Municipal Assembly, the group of government leaders in charge of each of the different settlements.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you all.” Princess Celestia bowed her head. Luna nodded her head briefly but otherwise simply continued to observe them.

“And finally, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Duchess Satine Kryze. He leads the New Jedi Order, and she is my political advisor. Together, they also lead the Cosmic Balance Initiative, but we’ll get to that later.”

The two simply nodded in response.

“So, everyone, like I said, this is Thomas. And these are his Sides: Logan, his Logic, Patton, his Morality, Roman, his Creativity, and Virgil, his Anxiety.”

Four of the five nodded their heads in recognition. But Thomas noted that Patton seemed to be vibrating too much to do so.

“Uh, Patton, are you okay?”

David had apparently noticed as well.

“I’m fine. I just…they’re just so…can I please…”

He was looking intently at the princesses. David met Celestia’s gaze, and she seemed to understand. She paused, but then a knowing smile graced her face.

“It’s alright,” she began, and that was all the permission Patton needed.

He quickly raced up to her, stopping just short. He then performed an awkward half bow and curtsey, beaming up at her.

“Pleased to meet you!”

Celestia chuckled, bowing her head in response. “Likewise.”

He straightened up before hesitating, finally managing to get out, “Ah, would it be alright if…if I could…”

He raised his hand, almost afraid to say the actual word. Celestia simply smiled before replying, “It’s alright, go ahead,” and lowering her head slightly.

He flushed, but reached out gentle fingers to her mane’s roots, carefully carding his fingers through before beginning to stroke them back along her neck, his smile growing ever wider.

“This is so…so…” He tried to find the right word, eventually managing to whisper, “…wonderful.”

Celestia let out a soft chuckle. “Thank you.”

Luna, with fondness in her smile, but old annoyance in her eyes, added, “Yes, my sister is known for her beautiful mane.”

Patton could sense the underlying envy in her words. He turned to her with a slightly stern expression. “Now, don’t be like that, kiddo. Yours is lovely too. It’s like the night sky: dark, but beautiful and mysterious.”

His face suddenly lit up as he got an idea and ran back toward the others.

“Logan would agree with me!” he shouted as he grabbed the logical side’s hand and pulled him over to the princesses. “He loves the stars.”

Logan adjusted his glasses as he steadied himself from the unexpected movement. “Well, I do admit that you have the same aura of nocturnal wonder as the night sky, and your mane does seem to radiate a most ethereal pulchritude.”

“That’s Logan Talk for ‘I think you’re very pretty,’” Patton stage whispered to her.

Logan began to blush at that. “Well, she is quite aesthetically pleasing.”

Luna’s blush was beginning to rival his at that. “Oh, well, thank you.”

Patton held back a squeal of delight as he leaned closer to Celestia to whisper, “This is so pure.” She merely nodded back, stifling giggles.

While the others simply watched this exchange, Roman had been inching closer to Stoick, hoping to gain his attention. Soon enough the larger man noticed him, and Roman took that as his cue to approach.

“You look like a man with quite a few heroic stories under his belt.”

Stoick nodded in acknowledgement. “Aye, I’ve got quite a few tales to tell, but not many I think that you’d be ready for.”

Roman brought a dramatic hand up to his chest. “Good sir, I’ll have you know that I have bested many a powerful dragon witch in my time. I’m more than certain that I could handle even the darkest of stories a warrior such as yourself could share.”

Stoick simply boomed out a laugh at that. “Ha! Dragon witch?! What sort of fairy tale have you been living in? I spent my entire life fighting _real_ dragons, and then learning to train them from my son.”

Roman frowned, but his narrowed eyes betrayed his playful intention. “Those so-called ‘fairy tales’ have made me one of the best warriors in the world.” He pulled out his sword to emphasize his point. “Besides, your ‘real dragons’ are just as much a fairy tale to me as my dragon witches are to you.”

Stoick narrowed his own eyes, pulling out his battle-axe in response. “Careful, wee princey. You don’t want to start something you can’t finish.”

The two eyed each other, daring the other to back down, before they both started to chuckle, their tense postures loosening.

“I like you,” Roman said, reaching up to clap the other man’s shoulder. “You are most definitely a worthy opponent. But I must warn you. Were we to ever truly spar, I would never back down so easily.”

Stoick’s chuckling deepened into a bark. “You might want to rethink that strategy. Sometimes you’ve got to step back to move forward.” Stoick demonstrated by moving back into a fighting stance, his axe ready. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve got?”

Roman grinned, spinning his sword in a lazy loop before assuming his own fighting stance.

“By all means, your move.”

The two stared each other down for a moment. Then Stoick lunged forward with all his might, his axe meeting Roman’s sword in a mighty clang of opposing metal.

Virgil watched as they began to trade blows. He briefly considered intervening to prevent Roman from letting his ego get the best of him, but he could tell that there was no need to fear. He briefly glanced over Logan and Luna animatedly discussing constellations while Celestia and Patton traded breakfast recipes before looking toward where David was excitedly explaining something to Thomas with Obi-Wan and Satine.

Suddenly he realized that someone was missing.

“Not interested in joining any of the conversations?”

Virgil managed to keep himself from jumping in shock, but just barely. He turned to look at Mrs. Frederick.

“How did you do that?”

“Sorry, trade secret.”

He hummed a response at that before resuming his scan of the room. She moved to stand next to him, joining him in observing the others.

“Everything alright?”

He took a steadying breath, hoping she couldn’t hear his racing heart. It was just a question, not an interrogation. No pressure, right?

“I’m good. You?”

“I’m quite fine, thank you.”

They continued to stand in silence for a bit.

“Might I ask again why you haven’t joined any of the other conversations?”

He did his best to ignore her gaze, choosing to focus on the others’ antics. “I’m not one for new people most of the time. Unless you really know me, I…I tend to rub people the wrong way.”

He glanced back at her. “What about you? Why aren’t you talking to anyone?”

Mrs. Frederick allowed a small smirk to appear. “I do my best work when I’m allowed to observe. I’m used to doing my job alone, and I have to be when I’m keeping an eye out for things that need to be dealt with.”

He tilted his head in thought. She sounded an awful lot like himself, or at least how he’d always done things before he’d been accepted by the others. Trying to distract from the thoughts, he quipped back at her, “That include me at the moment?”

Mrs. Frederick shrugged. “Possibly. All I’m feeling from you right now is a desire to make sure the others don’t do anything to get themselves hurt or embarrassed, particularly Roman over there.”

Virgil squinted at the dueling pair. “Scarily accurate.” He mused that with so many interesting people in this room, it wasn’t out of the question for one of them to be a mind reader.

“I’m not a mind reader,” Mrs. Frederick suddenly stated. “I’m just very intuitive.”

He started at that, but did his best to play it off. “Alright then.”

Mrs. Frederick smiled kindly at him. “You need not worry here. These are all good people. I’ve come to trust them with my life. David has a knack for finding individuals with a great deal of compassion to help him with his task. But I think you already know what kind of person David is.”

Virgil shrugged but smiled. “Yeah, I kind of do.” He relaxed, feeling the tension he didn’t realize he’d been holding dissipate. He pulled out his phone, placing one of the earbuds in so he could listen to some music. But before he put in the other one, he looked at Mrs. Frederick and offered it to her.

“What are you listening to?” she asked, taking the proffered bud and putting it in place.

“A little MCR,” he answered, scrolling through his library.

Mrs. Frederick smirked. “Something tells me you and Claudia are going to get along quite well.”

Virgil had no idea who Claudia was, but he snorted at her comment as he pulled up the playlist. He glanced once more around the room, briefly locking eyes with Thomas, who sent him a knowing smile before turning to rejoin his conversation with David, Obi-Wan and Satine.

“Of course, some of the others were a little scandalized by the whole affair," Obi-Wan continued, "but they all came around eventually. In any case, I think maybe the older generations didn’t quite understand that there’s a difference between letting go of and giving up that which you hold dear.”

Satine playfully frowned at him. “Nice to know that’s the reason you asked me to marry you.”

Thomas couldn’t help smiling at their banter, but felt the need to clarify.

“So, you two are…married?”

Obi-Wan’s smile at that relayed the number of times he’d had to confirm it.

“For about five years now.”

“I officiated,” David added, beaming proudly at himself.

Thomas smirked at that before turning back to the happy couple.

“Well, may I just say, the two of you are adorable.”

Satine chuckled lightly at that before placing a soft kiss on Obi-Wan’s cheek, who blushed but smiled. David couldn’t help but smile along.

“They were two of the first people I recruited to help me help people throughout the cosmos.”

Thomas nudged him gently. “Well, if I know anything, I’d say you chose well.” He then gestured to the room at large. “You chose them all well.”

David’s smile widened, but his voice took on a more somber tone as he replied. “I always try to find people who can help, but who also deserve a chance to live the lives they missed." 

He gestured toward the Princesses, who were softly giggling while Patton beamed and Logan rubbed his temples in frustration. “Their world was destroyed by a dark power early in their story. I brought them and their subjects here to let them live out their lives as close to what should have been as possible.”

He then turned to look at Mrs. Frederick, who was nodding appreciatively while listening to the earbud Virgil had given her to listen with, his own head bobbing along to the unheard rhythm. “Same with her and her version of the Warehouse and its associates. I couldn’t just let all the relationships they’d built end because their world couldn’t accept how important they were. And now they have a chance to do what they did for their world for all worlds.

“Stoick was the one I was most guilty about bringing here.” They watched for a moment as Stoick and Roman moved around each other, the larger man occasionally making suggestions which the shorter incorporated into his motions. “He was already pretty close to being ready to move on. But I reasoned that this way he would get a chance to watch his son flourish into the chief he was born to be and still get to enjoy his retirement, in between helping me of course.”

Thomas smiled sadly, reaching up to squeeze David’s shoulder. “Well, I’m glad you were able to help them this way.” David placed his own hand on Thomas’ in acknowledgement, giving him an appreciative smile.

“Helping people is my entire purpose in the cosmos. It’s what I’ve dedicated myself to for a long time now.”

He sighed before removing his hand and regaining his upbeat attitude.

“But as I’ve said, we’ll get to that soon enough. Right now I think it’s time for the Grand Tour.”

David’s last words rang out loud enough for everyone to hear. Logan and Patton briefly looked over before finishing their conversation with the Princesses. Roman put away his sword and grasped Stoick’s hand in a firm shake before walking over to the others, with Virgil trailing behind after taking back his earbud and nodding in thanks to Mrs. Frederick.

“Thank you all for letting us interrupt your meeting,” David began, addressing the Council as they returned to their seats at the table. “We’ll let you get back to it. We’ll be finishing up at The Tower, so you’re welcome to join us there if you’d-“

David interrupted himself as he began to visibly shake. Something on his wrist began flashing a pink light. Thomas looked at it, reaching forward to grab his wrist.

“Uh, David-“

David suddenly started. “We’ve got to go. Code Pink.”

The Council’s faces all took on varying degrees of worry as David began shepherding Thomas and the sides toward a side door that led out onto a balcony.

“What would you like us to tell her?” Celestia asked as he turned to close the doors behind them.

David hurriedly replied, “Tell her that they’re a little too busy today, and that she should schedule it for tomorrow.”

Celestia nodded as David closed the doors.

Virgil was the first to step forward and ask the question that was on all their minds: “Code Pink?”

David didn’t respond for a moment as he locked the doors, but then simply stated, “Pinkie Pie.”

The others had no idea what he was talking about, and it must have shown, as he elaborated.

“Pinkie Pie is a pony and friend of the youngest of the princesses: Twilight Sparkle. She’s also a party planner and likes to be friends with everyone. She expresses this by throwing every newcomer to my universe a welcome party. I still don’t understand how, and believe me, I have tried without success to fathom how she works, but she always seems to know when someone new arrives, because she always finds them.

“She’s not bad, she’s just…excitable. But I know that with five new friends she’s going to want to throw one monster of a welcome party, and I don’t think that that would make the best first impression on your first time here. Especially since you did just have an anxiety attack before we came. Sorry about that, again.”

David looked over apologetically. Virgil allowed his tension to ease at the explanation while also shrugging his shoulders to show that all was forgiven, though he did feel better when he felt Thomas move slightly closer to him. David, apparently accepting his assurances, smiled before moving away from the locked doors.

“Anyway, we best be on our way if we’re going to see the entire universe in just a few hours.”

David snapped his fingers, causing a large flash of familiar blue light to fill the balcony. Once it had faded, it revealed a sleek looking craft, with open air seating and an aerodynamic design.

Roman couldn’t help but whistle, impressed. “Nice ride.”

David grinned appreciatively. “Thanks. I designed her myself. Best way to get around in style.”

Thomas grinned at him and gestured toward the craft. “Lead the way, cap.”

David smirked at that and led them in, taking the seat in front while they settled into the rows behind.

“Seatbelts, everyone.”

The five complied, and agreed not to say anything when Virgil double checked each of their buckles. The engine roared to life, causing the craft to slowly lift off the balcony. For a moment, they simply hovered a few feet above the polished surface. Then suddenly, they shot off at breakneck speed.

“Oh no!” Virgil screamed.

“Here we go again!” Roman yelled, excitedly.

“Don't you just love literary references?!” David called over the rushing wind.

“You call Captain Underpants literature?” Logan called back.

“No, he calls him Captain Underpants, silly,” Patton replied cheerily, earning a groan from the logical side.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Thomas asked.

“Of course, I've only crashed it twice,” David replied.

And on that note, they zoomed higher toward the clouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Referenced Characters by Universe:
> 
> -My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic  
> \--Pegasus Guards  
> \--Unicorn Guards  
> \--Crystal Pony Guards  
> \--Princess Celestia  
> \--Princess Luna  
> \--Pinkie Pie  
> \--Princess Twilight Sparkle
> 
> -How to Train Your Dragon  
> \--Stoick the Vast
> 
> -Warehouse 13  
> \--Mrs. Irene Frederick  
> \--Claudia Donovan
> 
> -Star Wars  
> \--Duchess Satine Kryze  
> \--Master Obi-Wan Kenobi


	7. The Grand Tour

They soon leveled off and slowed down to a more comfortable cruising speed. New Ponyville shimmered below them as they turned away from the tower, heading just to the left of the sun’s glow. As they left the city behind and flew over a small forest, Thomas couldn’t help but ask the question that had been brewing in his mind since David had explained how he’d recruited the council members.

“So, is everyone here from worlds where they died or were destroyed?”

“Not everyone. There are a fair number of individuals who were born here, but everyone can trace their lineage back to another universe.”

“And you only recruit people who weren’t…at peace when they passed?”

“Yeah. I don’t interfere when they are at peace when they die, but I also can’t interfere if they take their own life, so you won’t find anyone who died that way here. The only exception to those rules is if an entire community is destroyed, like what happened with this version of Equestria.”

“You said that a dark power destroyed it. Why?”

David paused for a moment, and Thomas looked over in concern at the silence.

“It was trying to absorb its energy for its own use. I managed to imprison it, but it escaped. I then managed to defeat it and imprison it again with the help of my friends, but it escaped again. I then placed it in the most secure prison I could find, but it almost got away again before I found a way to destroy it for good.”

The dark tone with which David recounted the tale told Thomas that there was more to the story that David was withholding, but Thomas decided now wasn’t the time to force David to drag up old regrets, so he and the sides kept silent at that as they continued to soar over the landscape below.

They eventually passed over another city nestled between the ocean and a mountain.

“This is Maretropolis, a pony expansion city. Not much here that you haven’t already seen, so we’ll press on.”

Soon, they were past the city and flying over a foreboding wood.

“And this is a wildlife preserve for animals too aggressive to keep in the official preserve near the tower. I’ve collected specimens from across the cosmos to preserve here, but they are rather dangerous, so we’ll try a more thorough visit later.”

They soon exited the wood, and began a wide U-turn over a small, medieval style village.

“Oh, it looks just like a village out of a fairy tale,” Roman gushed.

“I would suspect so. This is Hidden Cove, a village set up for individuals I bring here who are from worlds that don’t have modern technology and can’t seem to come to terms with it. Stoick also has his residence here, as the quiet seclusion is what he prefers to relax in.”

“Have you tried introducing them gently to modern marvels?” Logan queried, legitimately wondering why anyone would forego the easier lifestyle of the modern world.

“Yes, but most of them just can’t get the hang of it, so I let them live here in their preferred lifestyle. Of course, their kids are also welcome to explore the rest of the world, and some of them have begun to bring a few of those modern marvels back for the adults to enjoy. One thing in particular they’ve really liked is indoor plumbing, and who could blame them, am I right?”

The others simultaneously chuckled at that as they left the village behind, skimming over the coast.

“I may have forgotten to mention that the oceans are also filled with creatures from across the cosmos, creating perhaps the most complex integrated food web in all of reality. It’s rather remarkable how it’s been able to accept and incorporate every specimen I bring back without causing severe upheaval in the food chain. Of course, the fact that I try to create as calming and peaceful an atmosphere in this world as I can probably helps.”

Just off the coast, a jet of water could be seen shooting toward the sky. David gently swerved toward it, and the other five looked over the side to see an enormous pod of blue whales swimming just below the surface.

“They’re making their way to another plankton bloom near the east end of the North Sea. They routinely migrate from one end to the other over the summer before beginning the long trek to the warmer South Sea for mating season.”

Thomas was definitely feeling fascinated at that, but also a little wary at being so far from the shore. Next to him, he felt the sides in similar states of unease.

“Hey, are you guys okay?”

Thomas looked up to see David looking back at them with concern.

“I’m…I’m just a little nervous. I’m…not all that fond of being…out on the water.”

“I’m sorry, here.”

David piloted the craft back toward the shore.

“Is that better?”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks.”

“I’m sorry, I should have asked if it was okay to go out over open water.”

“It’s okay. It’s not like I told you I have a fear of open water.”

“Brother number three is like that. He has a hard time being over deep water, simply because you can’t tell what might be swimming below you in the murky depths.”

They continued along the coast as it turned further south and then further east, David talking about some of the interesting facts about the ocean that he’d learned over the years. While the thought of open water was disconcerting, Thomas found David’s explanations about marine life and the watery realm it called home to be rather engaging. The way David explained it made it feel less scary, and Thomas was beginning to understand why someone would love the sea.

Soon enough they were flying over another small town set at the foot of a mountain not far from the coast, which David identified as Proteus City, a village dedicated to Elemental Bending and Mining.

“The academy has the best teachers. Not to brag, but they’ve all been trained by masters of each elemental style, thanks to me. And the mines continue to discover new wonders that I’ve…accidentally lost in the depths of this world.”

Thomas snickered at that and began to ask what sorts of things David would “accidentally lose,” when a loud sound ahead of them drew their attention. A small ball of fire was making its way skyward above a city set in the shadow of the tower, which was once again directly ahead of them.

“Well that can’t be good.”

Suddenly a beeping tone began to sound from the dash. David pushed a blinking button, causing a holographic screen to appear, bearing the image of a short haired blonde woman in a gold and black uniform.

“Yes, Tasha, I saw the explosion. What can you tell me about it?”

The woman, Tasha, was surprised for a brief moment before resuming her serious demeanor.

“It looks like a group of wizards and a group of Jedi are having a fight in downtown Brestancia. My sources indicate that they were arguing about something involving ‘time slots.’”

“Oh, flute biscuits, not again,” he muttered, rubbing his temple. “Alright, have Commander Blake and Small One take care of it. I’ll go in incognito just in case.”

“Affirmative,” she replied, and made to sign off, but stopped, suddenly making eye contact with Thomas.

“Um, David, who’s your friend?”

David looked up at her before looking at Thomas and the sides behind him.

“Oh, uh, this is my roommate, who also happens to be the transdimensional being that I’ve been searching for over the past few weeks. Thomas Sanders, and Sides, might I present Lieutenant Tasha Yar, formerly of the Enterprise-D, and my Chief of Security.”

She simply nodded before ending the call. They began to head toward the source of the blast.

“You have Jedi and wizards here?”

“Yeah. I brought a lot of the Jedi younglings who were lost in Order 66 here, and a number of underage wizards who died in the Second Wizarding War, either from actual fighting or from being imprisoned in Azkaban. The interesting ones are the wizards and Jedi who started showing up here.”

“What do you mean by ‘showing up here’?” Logan queried.

“Well, whenever I bring a living being here from another world, I also bring some of that world’s rules with them. Because of that, young residents here can sometimes discover that they are wizards or Jedi or benders. It can be a little hectic, but that’s why I have trained professionals on staff to help train them in the use of their powers.”

As they moved into the city, they eventually came upon a large crowd of people gathered at the edge of an intersection. David flipped a switch on the dash, and the entire craft and its passengers flickered invisible. Now unnoticed, they hovered over the crowd, looking toward the chaos in the center.

They could see the remains of a destroyed vehicle in the middle of the intersection. On both sides were groups of robed individuals, one side carrying wands, the other lightsabers. Both groups were shouting loudly. In the center three older individuals were keeping the two sides at bay.

One of the young men had a wand pointed at the boy leading the wizards, while the other young man and the young woman were holding their lightsabers in a challenging stance to ensure the younglings didn’t try anything.

“Look, Tony,” the wizard in the center called, “I don’t want you to get in trouble again. You need to stop acting out like this.”

“Forget you, Cedric,” the boy leading the young wizards called back. “We were there first. Besides, we deserve to use it whenever we want.”

“No you don’t!” cried a young male Jedi from their group. “Just because you think wizards are better than everyone else doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want!”

There was random shouting from both sides at that, and a few random sparks shot out from the wizards’ side. It was clear that they were not going to back down easily. But suddenly, Thomas heard a low sound like a strange animal call from behind them, and the invisible tour group turned to see something that almost stopped their hearts.

A massive dinosaur was making its way down the road behind them, and David quickly moved the craft a little higher so that the creature wouldn’t bang its head on it. Thomas turned to him, looking frightened.

“Is…is that a…an Indominus Rex?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

Thomas couldn’t understand why David wasn’t doing something. There was a massive killing machine headed straight for a crowd of people, and all he’d done was move their craft out of its way.

“Aren’t you going to stop it?”

“Why? She’s just doing her job.”

Thomas and his sides looked at him incredulously. David just stared at them, looking confused, before a look of realization hit him.

“Oh, right, sorry, I forget sometimes that in the original universe the Indominus was the bad guy. Well, I can assure you that this is not that same Indominus. In fact, she’s not even from that universe.”

Thomas looked between the approaching dinosaur and David, still feeling thoroughly confused. The others looked equally flabbergasted, but it was Logan who asked the question that was lingering in their minds.

“Then, where is it-“

“She,” David corrected, suddenly looking stern, and the five passengers couldn’t help but feel guilty at that.

“…where is…she…from?” Logan tried again, looking hesitant after being corrected.

“This is Small One. In her universe, the original Indominus you know from the movie and she were twin sisters, born from the same egg. That was part of the experiment the scientists were performing with their birth. Those scientists also used human DNA in their genetic makeup.”

Thomas and his sides blanched at that.

“Human DNA?” Patton whispered. “From who?”

“John Hammond himself.”

Their faces grew even paler at that. But David was quick to continue.

“Don’t worry, he gave the DNA willingly. Not for this purpose, but I think he would have approved of the results. You see, because Elise, the original Indominus, had human DNA, she was able to understand human speech, and even learn how to communicate back once she was taught how to write and read, as well as ASL. Because of her human traits, Owen Grady was able to stop her before she could complete her rampage, and even gained her trust.

“He would eventually become her handler in the reopened park, where she became the most popular attraction: a chance for children to interact directly with an intelligent dinosaur. But her sister wasn’t as strong, and she died when she became too heavy to support her own weight. Her sister never ate her. Everyone just assumed that she did.”

Patton was almost in tears at the idea of what the two sisters had had to go through. The others also looked downcast at that prospect. Finally, Thomas looked back over the side to look at her again as she passed beneath them, and for the first time noticed that she was wearing a dark vest over her torso, and that there was a man in a similar vest and security gear riding on her neck.

“Wait, who is that?”

“Commander Blake Wojciechowski,” David supplied, not even bothering to check. “He’s Small One’s partner. I brought them here together about six years ago. He was the new head of the Asset Containment Unit at Jurassic World after the…incident, but he was killed while on leave receiving treatment for alcoholism caused by survivor’s guilt over said incident.”

Small One suddenly roared, and the shouting crowds went silent as they parted to make way for her and Blake to reach the center.

“He hadn’t been very kind toward Elise after she became part of the park, but was beginning to understand that he’d mostly been projecting his own guilt onto her. After he died, I brought him and Small One here: him so he could have a chance to make up for his mistakes, and her so she could live the life she never got to have. They’ve been inseparable ever since.”

They’d continued to watch as David explained and landed the craft. Thomas thought that everyone would notice them as soon as they did, but the invisibility remained in place to cloak them as they walked in Small One’s wake to the front of the crowd to observe. Small One meanwhile had reached the center, where she let Blake down so he could assess the situation.

“What is going on here?”

“Sorry, Commander,” the female Jedi in the center replied. “We were just trying to sort out a dispute, and things might have gotten out of hand.”

“There’s no dispute,” the leader of the wizards defended. “We have every right to use the space when we want to.”

“No, you don’t,” the same Jedi from before called back.

“Yeah, I’m probably going to have to step in before this gets out of hand,” David whispered as both sides resumed shouting. “This shouldn’t take too long.”

He suddenly lifted up into the air, still unnoticed by the gathered throng. Thomas and the sides watched as he rose up over the center before twirling his fingers, summoning a small dark cloud to hover over the intersection. Finally, he made himself known to the crowd.

“Enough!” Lightning shot out of the summoned cloud with a loud clap of thunder, and David descended in what was admittedly a particularly grand display of power. He came to stand on top of the destroyed car, looking disappointed at the crowd around it.

“David, sir,” Blake saluted. Small One did as well. David nodded at them before turning to the combatants.

“Now, does someone want to tell me what is going on here?”

Cedric spoke up.

“Sorry, David, there was a miscommunication with who was going to be using the theater today. The Singing Sorcerers and the Jedi Drama Society couldn’t agree on a rehearsal schedule. One thing led to another, and…well…”

He gestured around them at the scene.

“Ugh, how many times have I told you all to make sure to get this sorted out beforehand? This is why we set up the rehearsal schedule website in the first place.”

“We were following the schedule,” the same young Jedi from before called out. The male Jedi in the center turned to shush him before addressing David.

“What he means is that the JDS was scheduled to have the theater today, but the SS was already using the space when they arrived, despite the fact that they were not scheduled to use the hall today.”

“When they tried to work it out, Tony started insulting the order, and it just went downhill from there,” the female Jedi continued.

David rubbed his eyes before turning to look at the young man leading the wizards. He slowly stepped down from the wreckage and moved toward him. Tony continued to stand defiantly, though his wand hand seemed to be shaking.

“Anthony O’Donnell, this is the third time you’ve started a fight with the Jedi. What is your problem?”

Tony refused to back down.

“I don’t have a problem. They just can’t accept that wizards are better than Jedi. So what if they can move stuff with their mind. They’re just a bunch of muggle freaks.”

There was a flash of light, and Tony found his hand empty. Horrified, he looked around before David cleared his throat.

“Looking for this?”

He held Tony’s wand in his hand. Tony made to move closer, but David grabbed it with his other hand and began to bend it at the middle. Tony froze.

“I’ve told you before that we’re no longer using the M-word, because it’s discriminatory against non-magicals. That being said, I’m going to give you one more chance. One more fight with the Jedi over wizard superiority, however, and you’ll find that you’re no longer so magical. Am I clear?”

Tony nodded his head hurriedly. David held out his wand, which he took before sulking back to his compatriots.

“I’m tired of having to settle these disputes between you lot. So from now on The Singing Sorcerers can use the theater downtown whenever they like. The Jedi Drama Society will be rehearsing at the new performance hall outside New Middleton from now on.”

There were cries of outrage from the wizard side, but another quick clap of thunder shut them up. With no other course of action to take, the wizards started traipsing back to the theater while the Jedi gathered around David.

“I’m sorry you had to get involved, sir,” Blake commented sadly. Small One made a call that sounded remorseful as well before moving her hands in what Thomas was surprised to recognize as sign language.

*I am sorry too. I had hoped we could talk them down ourselves this time.*

David snapped his fingers, causing the destroyed car to disappear and the dark cloud to dissipate before turning to her with a soft smile and raising his hands to respond.

“It’s alright, my dear. Anthony has been a troublemaker from the start. I hope he can learn his lesson, but I would not be too surprised if he failed to do so. I’m just glad you intervened before they started actually trading blows.”

“Sorry about that,” the lead female Jedi started. “We tried to keep them from causing any more trouble, but they’d already set the car on fire when we arrived.”

“It’s alright Katooni. You, Petro, and Cedric did a good job of keeping it from escalating. Thank you.”

Katooni nodded as Petro smirked.

“Well, I better go make sure that those little troublemakers don’t start anything on the way back.” Cedric shook his head. “See you all later.”

“Oh, before you go, I want you guys to meet some friends of mine.”

David gestured toward Thomas and the others, who could feel the invisibility field around them disappear as they cautiously moved forward to meet the group.

“Everyone, this is Thomas, my roommate, and the living sides of his personality: Logan, Patton, Roman, and Virgil.”

Small One immediately bent down to observe the five newcomers. The five of them did their best to not appear frightened, but any fears they might still have were dispelled when Small One started nuzzling Thomas’ front in a strangely affectionate display. Thomas couldn’t help but to stroke her muzzle in response, the oddly sweet purring sound she elicited at that sending him into a short fit of giggles.

As she pulled away to turn to him, she began signing, *It’s nice to meet you.*

Thomas smiled and spoke as he signed back, “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Small One lit up as his display. *You know sign?!*

Thomas smirked. “I do.”

Small One started laughing at that, and the sight was enough to warm everyone’s heart as she turned to sign her excitement to Blake, garbling in her own language at the same time. Cedric meanwhile moved forward to grasp Thomas’ hand in greeting.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Cedric Diggory, an assistant professor at The Brestancia Academy of Magic.”

Thomas paled in shock. “Cedric Diggory? _The_ Cedric Diggory?”

“Um, I guess. Are you familiar with me?”

“Uh, remember when I told you how Harry’s story became really popular in my world?” David interjected.

“Yeah.”

“Well, you were a pretty important part of that story, so a lot of people know you. In fact, a lot of self-described Hufflepuffs back home identify you as their poster boy for Hufflepuff greatness.”

“It’s true,” Thomas started again. “You were really helpful in making me realize I identified as a Hufflepuff. Of course, I also had a huge-“

“Thomas!” Virgil suddenly interrupted him. “Do you really want to say that out loud right now?”

“Why would you interrupt now?” Roman retorted. “There’s nothing wrong with saying that.”

“Thomas doesn’t know any of these people. How does he know they won’t reject him for it?”

“Considering the fair amount of mixing of different types of people from different universes,” Logan reasoned, “it would seem unlikely that many of them would be intolerant about this one particular difference.”

“But that doesn’t mean he needs to go spreading it around with complete strangers.”

“Go spreading what around?” Cedric queried.

“Thomas used to have a crush on you!” Patton shouted excitedly.

“Patton!” Virgil was looking even paler than usual now. The five of them turned to Cedric, varying degrees of apprehension on their faces (or the complete lack thereof in Patton’s case). Cedric stood in silence for a moment before speaking.

“Oh, well, okay,” Cedric replied simply.

“You’re not…upset?” Thomas asked, looking hesitant.

“No, it’s fine. I’m flattered, actually. I mean, I don’t swing that way. But it’s nice to know that someone thinks I’m good enough to have a crush on.”

“You’ve always been good enough for someone, Cedric,” David began. “You just haven’t met the right girl yet. But don’t worry. We’ll find her.”

Cedric smiled appreciatively.

“Well, I best be getting along. It was nice to meet you Thomas, and Thomas’ sides. See you around.”

Thomas gave a small wave as he headed off. Petro and Katooni called farewells after him before turning back to David.

“So, I’m assuming you’ll be taking this lot to the new hall?” Petro remarked, motioning toward the other Jedi.

“Yep. Can you get them all in the craft?” The hovercraft descended next to them at that as David continued. “I want to check on the crowd.” David motioned toward the group of bystanders on the edge of the intersection. Petro and Katooni nodded. They began shepherding the younger Jedi into the craft while David moved toward the bystanders.

“Is everyone alright?” David called, looking out over the gathered crowd. There was a murmured affirmation at his question, and David began to relax before a short figure extracted herself from the crowd and came up to him, quickly pulling him into a perfectly calculated hug, which he returned.

“I am glad to see that you are alright, Uncle David,” the figure spoke, pulling away. “I was not certain that you would be able to resolve this issue without resorting to more drastic measures. But I believed that if anyone could, it would be you.”

David gave a grateful smile. “Thanks, Lal.”

Lal looked behind him toward where Thomas and the others were still standing.

“Might I ask who your friends are?”

“Of course,” he replied, gesturing toward the others to bring them over.

“Lal, this is my roommate, Thomas, and the sentient aspects of his personality: Logan, Patton, Roman, and Virgil.”

The five nodded their heads in acknowledgement at being addressed.

“It is good to meet you all. Would it be correct to assume that you are in fact the one Uncle David has been searching for?”

Thomas blinked at that, but managed to maintain his hesitant composure.

“Uh, yeah, I guess I am. And who might you be?”

“Apologies. My name is Lal. I am an android.”

“An android?” Logan perked up at that. “You mean like Data?”

Lal turned toward him with the android equivalent of a surprised look.

“You are familiar with my father?”

Logan went completely stiff at that.

“I think we might have broken him,” Roman snickered, waving his hand in front of his face. The others looked amused as well.

“Lal, would you like us to give you a ride? We’re dropping off the JDS at the new performance hall, which is on your way home.”

“If you do not mind, I would be happy to accept your offer.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I minded.”

Lal paused before responding. “A reasonable argument. Very well, I shall accompany you.”

David smiled as he led her and the others, who were having to guide Logan, back to the craft, which had somehow grown to accommodate the dozen or so young Jedi they would be transporting to their new rehearsal space.

“Commander,” David called, causing Blake and Small One to stop and turn to them.

“Can you and Small One escort us and our passengers to our next destination?”

“You’re not going to take forever to get there, are you?” Blake teased back. This took Thomas by surprise, but based on the humor in David’s and Small One’s eyes, he could tell that there was something more to this than just random insults.

“I got here before you did,” David quipped back. The Jedi in the craft let out a collective “ooh.”

“Fine, you think you can beat us? Let’s just find out. First one to the hall wins. Loser has to do the Standard Punishment Dance.”

The Jedi gasped at that, though there was an element of amusement in their dramatics.

“I accept.” David reached out and grasped Blake’s outstretched hand to seal the deal before heading back to the craft and getting into the driver’s seat. Thomas and the others quickly buckled their seatbelts, with Virgil double checking Logan’s, since he was still out of commission. The craft began to lift up over the intersection as David snapped his fingers, making a stop light appear in front of them in midair. He revved up the engine and activated a siren as Small One helped Blake up onto her shoulders before entering a starting position.

The light turned red.

“Seatbelts, everyone,” David reminded.

The light blinked yellow.

“We’re about to have some fun.”

A pause, and then…green.

They were off.

The craft and dinosaur swerved through the city, the craft’s siren ensuring everyone stayed out of their way. Thomas could tell that David could have easily outpaced even this agile creature with the craft, but that they were having too much fun just staying neck and neck with each other. Thomas and his sides were feeling the exhilaration as well, with Patton going so far as to put his hands in the air like he was riding a roller coaster.

Soon enough, they’d made their way out into open country, and Small One took off immediately, Blake hollering along to her excited roars.

“Come on, baby, we’ve got this!”

“Don’t count on it, Wojciechowski! I’m winning this one!”

“In your dreams, maybe!”

Small One laughed at that as they continued along. Soon they came upon a hill with a large building set atop it overlooking another city in the shadow of the tower. Small One climbed quickly, and David made a show of pushing the craft as fast as he could while really slowing enough to let Small One take the lead. Finally, they crested the hill, with Blake hooting and hollering their victory while Small One let out a victorious bellow.

“You may have won this time, you two,” David fake glowered at them as he landed near the front of the building, “but don’t get cocky. One of these days I will beat you.”

“Ha! Unlikely!” Commander Blake slipped down into Small One’s hands, where she held him up for her to see.

“Hey baby, you did great.” Small One let out a croon at that, and the two proceeded to start cuddling right there. David got out to allow the group of Jedi to disembark, and Thomas came to stand next to him as they watched the unlikely duo continue their displays of affection.

Now that he understood a little more, he could see why David had been so nonplussed at their arrival. Small One was probably the sweetest girl he’d ever met. She was playful and silly, but there was a gentleness and innocence about her. He couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy at the two cuddling together.

“I’ve seen it a thousand times, and it still warms my heart.”

Thomas turned to the slightly familiar new voice. Tasha had joined them.

“Tasha, hi,” David greeted upon seeing her. “What brings you by?”

“Commander Blake told me you were escorting the JDS and Lal here to the new performance hall, so I thought I’d meet her here so we could walk home together.”

“You live with Data and Lal?” Thomas inquired.

Tasha turned to look at him with an unreadable expression. “Data and I have been dating for a while now. Sharing a living space seemed like a logical step in our relationship, as he puts it.”

David and Tasha chuckled lightly at that. Lal meanwhile had come to stand next to her, prompting Tasha to turn and address her.

“Are you ready to get going, sweetheart?”

“I am,” she replied before turning to Thomas and the sides. “I am sorry that we did not have the opportunity to get to know each other better. I hope that such an opportunity will present itself in future.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted tomorrow. Pinkie’s already planning their welcoming party, and I’m pretty sure she’s going to invite half the universe to this one.”

Thomas looked exasperatedly at David.

“Hey, there’s no escaping a Pinkie Pie party. Believe me. Just suck it up and deal with it.”

Thomas shook his head in resignation at that before moving back to the edge of the hill to look out over the city below. Distantly he was aware of Blake and Small One heading off for a briefing while the JDS entered the hall and Tasha and Lal began their walk home. But he couldn’t really bring himself to focus on any of that with the thoughts swirling through his mind.

He was still reeling from everything he’d seen and learned over the past few hours. All the amazing sights and new people he’d met. And it still boggled his mind that this wasn’t just a dream, or even a onetime event, but the beginning of a whole new adventure. The kind of which he’d only ever dreamed of having.

David must have noticed him staring out over the cityscape, as he heard his familiar sigh of amusement before David spoke up.

“Come on, Sanders. No time to dally while wonders await.”

Thomas turned his attention back to David, looking incredulous.

“Did you just reference _Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The Musical_?”

“Hey, you’re not the only one who likes musical theatre, you know,” David replied defensively. “Anyway, we have just enough time for a quick detour before our last stop.”

“Detour?”

“Yes. We’ve done enough sightseeing concerning what my powers can do. I think it’s time we start working on yours.”

And with Thomas in shock from that bombshell, David herded him and the sides back into the craft and headed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Referenced Characters by Universe
> 
> -My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic  
> \--Ponies
> 
> -How to Train Your Dragon  
> \--Stoick the Vast
> 
> -Avatar: The Last Airbender  
> \--Benders
> 
> -Star Trek: The Next Generation  
> \--Lt. Natasha "Tasha" Yar  
> \--Lal (Data's daughter)  
> \--Lt. Cmdr. Data
> 
> -J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World  
> \--Wizards  
> \--Cedric Diggory  
> \--Harry Potter
> 
> -Star Wars  
> \--Jedi  
> \--Katooni  
> \--Petro
> 
> -It's Not the Raptor DNA (A Jurassic World Fix Fic on Fanfiction.net by SkullsandDuggery)  
> \--Small One  
> \--Elise, the Indominus Rex  
> \--Owen Grady  
> \--Cmdr. Blake Wojciechowski


	8. Lesson Number One

“Are you sure that now is the best time for him to start learning this?”

“The sooner we start, the sooner he learns, Virgil,” David replied, guiding him to sit down beside Roman.

David had flown them to the center of a large and sprawling grassland north of the Tower. Besides the Tower and mountains still present on the horizons, there was nothing to see but endless miles of tall grass waving lazily in the light winds. David had told Thomas to sit down in a patch of shorter grass, while he’d continued to seat the others in a circle, with Patton to Thomas’ left, and Roman on Patton’s.

“Besides, what I sensed when I first detected you indicated you were approaching a new milestone in power. That means that your abilities are continuing to grow and strengthen.”

The others looked between each other, concerned, but David quickly assured them otherwise as he had Logan sit down next to Virgil.

“It’s nothing to be worried about, though. My powers are also still growing. But because you don’t have direct control over your powers, there’s the potential for them to start activating on their own. Once you start using your powers more often, you’ll be able to keep them under control and prevent such an occurrence. Which is why I think now is the best time to start.”

“Now, I want you all to close your eyes, relax your bodies, and try to quiet your mind and focus on your breathing.”

The five exchanged glances, but did as he asked.

“I’m going to walk you through a meditation exercise to help you find the power inside you,” David continued. “That way you’ll be able to feel the power and its source, and know where to look to when you need to access it. Start by following me: breathe in…hold…and out. And again….”

Thomas focused on his breathing. As it fell into the pattern, he felt his mind begin to calm.

“Now, allow your mind to relax. Don’t try to clear anything away just yet. Just allow it to enter into a relaxed state. Open yourself up to any suggestions I give you. Continue with the breathing pattern.”

Thomas allowed the concerns of his life to slowly drift away. David’s voice became quieter in his mind.

“Now, I want you to picture yourself in a serene environment. Somewhere that would allow you to simply sit back and relax, where you can simply be.”

An image began to form in Thomas’ mind. And almost immediately he could feel the calm this place had brought him in the past.

“What do you see?”

“I see the beach. The ocean waves, the sand, the sky. No one else around. Just me and the beach and the waves of the sea.”

“Allow that image to fill your mind. Allow it to push every other thought away. Just focus on the waves…”

“Heh, like puppies playing in the waves.”

Thomas opened his eyes in frustration.

“No, no Patton. That’s distracting, no puppies.”

Patton’s smile turned to a frown, but he nodded in understanding as he looked down at his feet in guilt.

“Now, let’s get back to the beach.”

Thomas closed his eyes again, and the image returned as David resumed.

“Focus on the sound of the waves…”

“The roar and crash of the mighty waves.”

“Roman,” Thomas called, exasperated at having been pulled out again. He turned to glare at the fanciful side.

“What? It’s true.” Roman glared back in defiance.

“That is not what we need to focus on here,” David chided. “Just ignore them for right now-“

“Yeah, I’ve been trying that for years. It still hasn’t worked.”

“Virgil.”

Thomas turned to glare at Virgil, who sneered back.

“Realistically speaking,” Logan interjected, “it is rather difficult to ignore a part of your own mind, which we technically are.”

“Ugh, guys, come on, I’m trying to focus and you are not helping.” He stood up and walked away from the circle, turning back after a few feet to address them. “Look, David knows what he’s doing, but we have to go along with it if we’re going to get this to work.”

“It’s okay,” David said in reply. “You’re doing alright.”

“But I can’t focus right now. They are distracting me.”

“I get that. That’s okay. Distractions are very common, especially from our own mind. That’s why we’re doing the exercise.”

Thomas grunted in frustration, turning back to look out over the fields.

“Come on, just come back and try it again.”

Thomas continued to stare, but finally came back and took his place on the ground.

“Now, allow yourself to go back to the beach.”

Thomas tried again to close his eyes and return to the mental image.

“You’re breathing is calm and relaxed, following the beat of the waves-”

“Where exactly is this beach?”

“Logan!”

Thomas groaned and turned to the logical side, his brows furrowed in frustration.

“Well, it would matter where the beach is. After all, beaches in different parts of the world have varying wave strengths, which would determine how calming their sounds would be in this scenario.”

“Logan, it doesn’t matter what beach it is.” David still sounded calm, despite the interjections. “It just has to be a calm beach.”

“And you thought I was being problematic.”

“Virgil, the comments are not helping,” Thomas said, rounding on him.

“Everyone, everyone, calm down. This is a time for _quiet_.”

David’s raised voice cut through the tension. The sides slumped into themselves and Thomas once more tried to calm down enough to actually relax.

“Now let’s get back to the beach. There is no one here but Thomas. The waves are gentle and calm, not being dramatic. There is nothing around to make noise or be distracting and cute. It doesn’t matter what beach it is, it’s just a simple solitary beach.”

Thomas tried to get his mind to focus on the beach. But the waves were now being too dramatic. And puppies kept passing in front of him. Not to mention he couldn’t help wondering just where in the world he was. And the grumbling of storm clouds in the distance was definitely not helping.

Finally, he stood up with a huff and walked away again.

“I just can’t focus right now. I’m stuck with all these images in my head thanks to them.”

“We’re trying our best, kiddo, but our minds aren’t exactly the same as yours, so it takes a little while for us to filter out our thoughts.”

Thomas turned back to yell at him. “We’re all literally the same person. How is that a problem?”

Patton shrank into himself before quietly replying. “I don’t know. The idea of the puppy just popped into my head, and now I can’t get it out.”

Thomas threw up his hands in frustration and turned around again. After a moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see David giving him a sympathetic smile.

“It’s okay. We can make this work. You just need to calm down.”

Thomas pushed his hand off.

“I can’t,” he said resolutely.

“Yes, you can,” David replied, but while still quiet, something in his voice had hardened.

Thomas turned, shouting back, “Can’t.”

David shouted back at him, “Can.”

They kept shouting, growing louder and closer with each word.

“Can’t.”

“Can.”

“Can’t!”

“Can!”

“Cant!”

“Yes! You can! You can do this!”

The two were practically nose to nose.  “You have to be able to do this, Thomas! Because if you can’t, that means that I’m failing as a teacher!”

Thomas reeled.

“What does that have to do with anything?! I’m the one who needs to focus or I can’t use my powers!”

“But if I can’t teach you how, then how can you use them?!”

The two glared each other down until David finally huffed in frustration and turned away.

“Look, I’ve been waiting a long time to find someone else like me. Someone who I can show everything I’ve learned through my travels. If I can’t get you to even see your own powers, how am I supposed to get you to actually use them?”

Thomas was still fuming. “Yeah, because it’s all about you. The Great and Mighty David the Traveler, who can do no wrong.”

David turned back, his eyes narrowed in anger. “You think I like being treated like a god? You think I get a kick out of everyone being afraid of me? I only have that reputation because of what I’ve had to do. It’s not like there’s anyone else to protect the cosmos!”

Thomas was about to retort when the weight of David’s words hit him. He’d never thought about how David actually felt about being on top. After all, he was such a reserved person back home. Why would he relish in the spotlight? And he hadn’t. He had been kind, caring, and even silly and awkward around the people of his world, just like he’d acted with Thomas’ friends. He’d treated them like equals. Thomas made to take back his words, but David was still ranting.

“And now I finally find someone who might be able to understand what it’s like to have this kind of power and the responsibility that comes with it. But you barely understand what you’re capable of. So it’s my job to teach you. And if you can’t get it, then I’m the one that’s failed. Because I couldn’t help you figure it out. I am not about to be the cause of someone else’s pain. Not again, not after Dad!”

A split second too late, David realized what he’d said. He paled before turning away again. Thomas looked back at his sides before moving closer to David.

“Hey, are you-“

“It’s nothing,” David blurted out. “There’s nothing wrong.”

“David, if something’s wrong, you know you can tell us.”

“There’s nothing you need to know,” David said, trying to convince himself as much as the others as he continued his mantra. “I don’t need your comfort. I am strong. I can do this myself. I can make this work. I don’t need your comfort. I am perfectly fine. I am-“

David froze mid-sentence. Patton had moved so quickly the others hadn’t even noticed. His arms were now wrapped around David’s middle, his head leaning against his chest. For a moment, it seemed as if David had stopped breathing. Then the sobs began.

Thomas was at a loss as he watched the young man he’d come to associate with supreme power and self-control break down into helpless tears. He leaned down to wrap his arms around Patton, and suddenly the strong, confident figure of transdimensional power was gone.

In his place was the same short and unexemplary young man Thomas had taken into his apartment. He sobbed into Patton’s shoulder as the others watched, their hearts breaking at the sight. Finally, after a few minutes of nothing but David’s sorrowful outbursts, he seemed to calm enough to pull away from Patton, walking a distance away and sitting on the ground, facing away from them and hugging his knees as close to his chest as he could manage.

Thomas glanced at the others before going to sit next to him. He didn’t touch him, but sat close enough that the other could feel his presence. The sides slowly moved over to sit or kneel around them, being careful to give David his space. Finally, David turned to look at Thomas.

“I’m sorry. I know this isn’t about me. But I feel like it is. If you fail, then that failure is on me. And I am so tired of being the one to fail people.”

“You haven’t failed anyone.”

“Tell that to my dad.”

Thomas hesitated before asking, “What about your dad?”

David turned away again, staring out over the fields. Thomas sighed and turned to look at Patton kneeling behind them. He nodded his head in approval as Thomas turned back to David.

“Can you please tell us what’s wrong? Please?”

David hesitated before responding.

“My dad has cancer.”

Thomas’ stomach dropped as he took in a sharp breath. Patton and Roman audibly gasped. Logan and Virgil remained silent, but their faces drained of all color.

“What kind?” Logan asked, his voice softer and gentler than Thomas had ever heard it.

“Colon, stage four, already metastasized to his liver and left lung.”

Thomas could feel the tears blooming from his eyes. Quiet sniffling and the rustle of fabric told him the others were faring no better. Finally, he reached his arm out and placed his hand on David’s shoulder. David didn’t react for a moment, but then reached up to place his own hand on Thomas’.

“We’ve been fighting it for two years now. We’ve managed to keep it from getting worse, but it hasn’t gotten any better. And the side effects of the treatment forced him to retire from teaching earlier than he’d ever planned. We’ve been trying to stay positive. And the shock of it did convince me to get my drafting certification and start moving forward with my life back home.

“But I can’t help but feel that I should be doing more. That there’s more I could have done or said that would have kept it from getting so far before we found it. I know realistically that there’s nothing I could have done to prevent this, but…”

David paused, wiping the gathering tears from his eyes.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to know that there are places where the very fabric of existence can be bent to your will, but you can’t even use any of that power to help the people you love back home? I have all this power, and I still can’t help my dad.

“But I know what he would say if I shared these feelings with him. He would say that I should just focus on what I can control. That I should do my best to take care of myself and show that he didn’t fail in raising me to do what needs to be done for myself.

“That’s why I’ve tried so hard to take better care of myself. Why I insist on eating home cooked meals and doing my tai chi every morning. I have to prove that I can stand on my own, without my father to support me.”

The others pressed in, not quite hugging David but enveloping him in their presence. He leaned into it for a moment before shifting away to let himself up, turning back into his transdimensional form in the process. Once the others had stood as well, he turned to Thomas.

“If you don’t think you’re up to it, we don’t have to try it today. We can wait and try it again some other time.”

Thomas thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“No, I want to do this. I want to try again.”

David stared at him intently.

“Are you sure? Because we don’t have to. I know I rushed into this, so it’s okay if you want to wait. It’s entirely up to you.”

Thomas hesitated, but then squared his shoulders and stood up straight. “I want to try.”

David considered him for a moment, then sighed.

“Very well. We’ll try it one more time.”

He sat down, and the others sat around him in their previous spots. Thomas immediately closed his eyes, willing the distracting thoughts away.

“We’re going to start with the breathing again. We can’t rush this, so we need to go slowly. Follow me: breathe in…hold…and out. And again….”

Thomas willed himself to calm down, focusing on the beat of his breath and the guiding words of David’s voice. Finally, he could feel the determination fading into the background, leaving him calm once more.

“Now, return to the calm beach. Observe the calm beating of the waves. Let your breathing slow in time to their sounds. Focus entirely on the waves.”

Thomas could feel himself slipping deeper into the meditation. The waves were pulling the calm and serenity in to him, and dragging all the distracting thoughts away.

“Good. Now, allow the sound of the waves to drift away, until all you can hear are my words in your mind.”

The sound of the waves dimmed until all Thomas could hear was his own slow breaths and David’s soothing voice. In his mind’s eye, all he could see was the empty serenity of his cleared head.

“Good. You are now in a state of meditation. The only things that matter to you now are your breathing and my voice. You are completely relaxed.”

And Thomas could feel it. There was nothing to worry about. No deadlines, no scripts or schedules, no bills to pay or friends to check on. Nothing.

“Now that there is nothing for you to worry about, I want you to look deep inside yourself. Past the emotions and thoughts that don’t matter anymore. All the way in.”

Thomas allowed his conscious mind to drift through his headspace, observing the stray emotions that were flitting about, noting the thoughts still occurring, the basic energy of his continued existence, his connections to the sides.

“Keep going, deeper. Past the memories, past the deep emotions, past everything you once thought important.”

Thomas delved deeper. He watched as memories of home fluttered past. He saw fun memories of friends, thrilling recollections of acting and writing and directing, and a few bittersweet memories of past love. But none of that mattered right now, because beneath it all, he saw something new.

“Can you see it?”

It was a swirling mass of energy, roiling and churning, yet somehow still calm in its own way, like a pot of water set to a slow boil. It was glowing with vibrant purple light, though he could also see flickers of other colors within, most prominently reds, blues, and other purples.

“It’s like a giant ball of purple energy.”

“Yes, that’s it. That is your power. Don’t try to tap into it just yet. Just feel it.”

He moved closer, feeling the energy as it moved. It felt so powerful, and yet it almost felt joyful to have found him. He carefully reached out with his thoughts, and upon contact, felt a surge of energy course through his body, from the pit of his stomach to his furthest extremities in an instant.

With a yelp, he fell back into the tall grass, opening his eyes to see the Sides had reacted similarly.

“Yep, that was it.” David smirked. He watched as they slowly collected themselves and sat up.

“That…was not as bad as it could have been,” Virgil commented, looking weirded out.

“Other than the unexpected conclusion, that was a rather rejuvenating experience,” Logan said, readjusting his glasses and straightening his tie. “We may need to consider incorporating a meditation exercise into our daily routine.”

“I use it every morning when I do my tai chi. It’s the best way to substitute for not actually being unconscious when I’m asleep.”

“Forget the meditation, did you see just how much power Thomas has?” Roman beamed in excitement, trying to fix his hair with his hands. “There’s no telling what we could do once we manage to gain full control.”

“I am so proud of you, kiddo,” Patton bubbled, looking around blindly while Virgil grabbed his glassed from where they’d fallen on the ground.

“Thomas, you good?” David asked, concerned, as Thomas hadn’t said a word since coming out of his meditation.

Thomas was still reeling. He’d felt the power inside himself. All that energy, just bursting to get out. It was making him nervous. What could he do with this kind of power? What if he used it for something he shouldn’t? What if whatever he did ended up worse? He could feel the negative thoughts swirling, but suddenly they began to dissipate.

He looked up at Virgil, who had his eyes closed and was taking deep, slow breaths. Once the thoughts had cleared, he opened his eyes and looked at Thomas, who flashed him a grateful smile.

“Thanks, Virge.”

“Hey, worrying about everything is my job, remember?”

The two exchanged friendly smirks as Logan and David looked on with pride, while Roman beamed and Patton looked about ready to explode from happiness at the sight.

“So, anyway, all of that power is there waiting for you to access. And there are a few ways that we can try to access them.”

“Hold on,” Logan said, “I need to get this down for future reference.”

He made to summon a notebook and pen, but nothing appeared. He stared at his empty hands.

“That should have worked.”

“Need some help there?” Roman asked, a smug grin on his face.

“Your assistance is not required. I just need to try again.”

He tried once more to summon the items to him, but again nothing happened.

“Here, let me just get that for you,” Roman said. He made the same motions, but as with Logan, nothing happened. He jumped up in shock. He tried to summon his sword, but it wouldn’t appear.

“What’s going on? Why can’t I summon anything?”

He tried several more times, becoming more frantic. Logan and Patton stood as well, Logan frowning in confusion as Patton went to try and reassure Roman. Virgil started to pale as he and Thomas joined them, and Thomas could feel the negative thoughts returning.

“Everyone, everyone, calm down!” David called, clapping his hands as he stood to get their attention. “Nothing is wrong. You’re all fine.”

“But why can’t I conjure anything?!” Roman implored, looking almost panicked.

“Because it won’t work here.”

Silence. Finally, Logan decided to ask.

“What do you mean?”

“Everything you’ve used Thomas’ powers for in the past has been for use in either his mindscape or when you’re talking to him as mental projections. That means that you’ve only been manipulating mental energies when you’ve tapped into his powers. Essentially, you’ve only been creating mental illusions, which is exactly what this place blocks.”

He stretched his arms out to indicate the vast fields around them.

“These are the Fields of Trenzalore."

“The Fields of Trenzalore?” Logan had tensed up again. Whether it was from shock or excitement was difficult to tell. “As in…”

David nodded his head as he recited, “’On the Fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no living thing can speak falsely or fail to answer…’

“These aren’t the actual Fields, but I named them as such because they work in a similar fashion. Instead of preventing spoken lies, they block mental illusions and projections. Only what is actually here is allowed to be perceived.”

“But then how are they here?” Thomas wondered, looking between the befuddled sides.

“Because you brought them here,” David replied simply. Thomas felt even more confused, prompting David to elaborate.

“When I pulled you from our world, you latched on to your sides to make sure they came with us. And you did so again when we began moving through the void. And when we entered My Universe. You made sure they would stay with you, and out here that meant making them real.”

The sides looked between themselves, before Virgil finally asked, “How?”

“Just like my powers can make all of this real, Thomas’ can do the same out here. The exact reason is complicated and would require a visual aid I can’t create in the Fields. But suffice it to say that if you really want something to be real, it can be out here in the cosmos. And that includes them.”

The idea of what that entailed thrilled them all, but suddenly Roman voiced a new concern.

“But if he made us real enough to exist here, doesn’t that mean he already has access to his powers?”

“He may have consciously thought of making you real, but he still did it subconsciously. And that block is still in place. That’s why when you saw that energy, Thomas, it looked like it was broiling and churning. Your subconscious control over it is keeping you from accessing it, and that in turn is making it build up. If you can’t release it naturally, it’ll eventually overwhelm you and explode out with potentially disastrous results.

“That’s why you need to learn to access your powers if you’re to get them under control. We need to force their conscious use in order to remove the block. The question is how.”

“If you don’t know how to unlock his powers, why’d you bring us here?” Virgil demanded.

“I do know how to unlock his powers,” David retorted. “The first step was finding them. Now he just needs to use them consciously, and the pathways will open completely, allowing him full control.”

“So, how do we do that?”

David turned to him. “You need to try and do something simple with your powers. Something like conjuring a notebook, or changing your appearance, or even altering an object’s properties.”

Thomas considered the options for a moment, before the sight of Logan holding his arms awkwardly convinced him of which one to try.

“Okay, so if I wanted to conjure a notebook and pen for Logan, how would I do that?”

Logan shot him a grateful smile as David explained.

“Focus on the object you want to summon. Picture its qualities in your head. Think of the feel of the object in your hands and the sight of it in your eyes. And then tap into that energy inside you and make it real.”

Thomas didn’t feel very confident at his chances, but closed his eyes to focus. He could see the notebook in his mind: the cool plastic of the cover, the smell of the paper, the blue and red lines on each page. As the image grew in his head, he held his hand out, and for a brief moment, he almost thought he could feel it in his hand. But then he felt himself kicked back, like he’d just bounced off a padded wall.

“Wow, you almost did it,” Patton gushed.

“But he was unable to maintain it,” Logan pointed out.

“That’s okay,” David said, “it might not work the first time. Just try it again.”

Thomas did try it again. And again. And again and again and again, for several minutes. But despite all his concentration, he couldn’t get the notebook to appear for more than a moment. Before he could try for a twelfth time, David interrupted him.

“You know, I don’t think this is going to work. Maybe we should try something else. Something easier.”

David pondered for a moment before snapping his fingers. A simple body length mirror appeared in front of Thomas with David’s customary blue flash. Thomas barely even flinched.

“Does the snapping help? Is that something I should be trying?”

“It can help to focus your energy when you make changes, but it’s not necessarily required. I wouldn’t worry about it until you actually get your powers working.”

Thomas nodded before looking into the mirror.

“Now, something that should be pretty easy is just changing your appearance. Usually, I’d suggest something like hair color or body shape, but that is a little more complicated, so we’ll just focus on your clothes.”

Thomas looked himself over. He was dressed as he usually would be back home, but Florida was known for its heat. David’s world had a much cooler feel to it, like the northern states. He figured it would make sense to make himself a jacket or sweater to wear.

He pulled the image of his favorite hoodie to the forefront of his mind, remembering the way it felt on him in the cold of winter. Holding on to those memories, he tried once again to focus his mind on the task. And once again, he briefly felt the hoodie’s presence over his torso. But once again, it only lasted a moment before he was knocked back.

Despite the encouraging looks from Patton, he wasn’t feeling very confident in himself. But he refused to give up without a fight. He tried several more times, each one failing to make the change permanent. He soon found himself out of breath as David frowned in thought.

“Hmm, this block is proving to be particularly strong. I honestly don’t remember my own abilities being so…uncooperative.”

“Would there be a reason that his block is more insurmountable than yours was?” Logan asked.

“It could be because of how long his powers have been under his subconscious mind’s control. But to be honest, I wouldn’t know for certain. As far as I’m aware, Thomas is the only other person like me around.”

Thomas panted, leaning on his knees with fatigue as he ignored the looks of concern the others were sending him. He stood up suddenly, eyeing the mirror, and wondering if he could try to change it. He focused his mind on the mirror, imagining it in a different color, and while it briefly shimmered a soft white, it switched back to normal almost immediately.

“That’s not a bad idea, Thomas, but I don’t think it’ll be enough to get through the block,” David stated.

Thomas still refused to quit. As David continued to ponder the situation, Thomas tried again to summon something, to change his clothes, to change something else. And while he was able to momentarily make something change, it never stuck. Soon enough, he was almost completely spent.

“I was afraid of this. The block might be so strong that it would take something serious to remove it. I was hoping you wouldn’t have to do it the way I did.”

“What do you mean?” Patton asked.

“I unlocked my powers because of a traumatic experience. The need to protect myself from danger forced me to tap into them.”

David paused. His eyes narrowed and his frown deepened.

Thomas hesitated but still asked, “What happened?”

“I was being chased by an angry mob, got cornered, and instinctually used my powers to make myself tough enough to withstand their attacks. I let them go to town on me and just played dead until they left. It was only afterward that I realized what I’d done, and I’ve been using my powers freely ever since.”

“Well, what if we did something like that with me?”

“See, that’s the problem. I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable putting you in a life or death situation. I try to actively get people out of those kinds of situations.”

“But you said it yourself, it was what unlocked your powers. That might be the only way I can.”

David tapped his chin in thought, as if he were actually considering it.

“I mean, even if I did agree to it, what would I do? Dangle you off a cliff? Threaten to fire a gun at you? Expose you to poisonous gas?”

“Exposure,” Logan suddenly uttered, as if he’d had a eureka moment.

“No, I am not poisoning Thomas.”

“No, that’s how you do it: exposure.”

“I just said no poison.”

“Not poison, exposure.”

David just stared at him, confusion clear on his face. Thomas wasn’t quite sure what Logan meant either, and a glance at the others showed they too had no idea what he was talking about. Logan, realizing this, explained.

“There is a way to trigger an instinctual response without actually putting you in a life or death situation: your allergies.”

Thomas paused, and then the clarity came through.

“Of course, my allergies. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Technically, you did, as I am still a part of you, Thomas.”

“You are so smart, Logan,” Patton gushed. “And that’s why you’re my hero.”

“Well, thank you, Patton,” Logan replied, blushing. Virgil and Roman snickered into their hands at that. But David still looked confused, so Thomas turned to explain it.

“I’m allergic to cats. If I’m exposed to cat dander for too long, I can suffer a mild anaphylactic shock. It’s not enough to kill me, but it’s enough to trigger an instinctual response. If you were to expose me to enough of it, then that might trigger the kind of response I’d need to unlock my powers.”

David pondered this for a moment, looking equal parts concerned and intrigued. Finally, he turned to the sides.

“Are you all okay with this?”

“It does make sense,” Roman reasoned. “After all, I sometimes find my best solutions to a tricky situation in the middle of a fight.”

“If we do it right, I can keep Thomas in the right mindset to make this work,” Virgil confirmed.

“You’ll need his permission,” Patton pointed out, “but if he’s okay, then I’m okay.”

David considered all this. Finally he turned back to Thomas with a serious look on his face.

“You have to promise me that if you know you won’t be able to do this, that you tell me straight away.”

Thomas nodded.

“And I have to have your verbal consent to do this.”

“Consent?” Roman scoffed. “Do we really have to be that formal about it?”

“Yes, we do. I have to know that you are agreeing to this of your own volition. I refuse to do anything that might compromise the trust you have placed in me to help you unlock your powers and guide you through this new part of your life.”

Thomas paused, contemplating the seriousness of David’s words and tone, but still nodded his head in affirmation.

“I trust you.”

David sighed, but nodded back in acknowledgement.

“Alright, here we go.”

There was a flash of light, and David was now holding a small calico kitten in his hands. He held it out in front of him and began to move toward Thomas. Once the cat was within five feet, Thomas could feel the reaction in his sinuses.

“Okay, Thomas, you know what this situation is going to cause you to do. You need to focus on some way of escaping it before you get hurt.”

“Ooh, how about teleporting away?”

“That seems too complicated. Perhaps changing the cat into something less damaging to your olfactory tissues.”

“Oh, oh, I know! He could change it into a puppy! Or one of those hypoallergenic cat breeds!”

“Whatever he does, he needs to do it fast. I can’t hold all this back for long.”

Thomas tried to concentrate. But he still couldn’t make anything change. And the sensations in his nose were getting worse as David came closer and closer with the cat.

“Come on Thomas, if you don’t come up with something soon, I’m going to end this right here and now.”

Thomas’ mind kept racing. Logan and Roman were still shouting out ideas, and Virgil was beginning to visibly strain from the effort of controlling Thomas’ instincts. Patton just kept glancing between them, looking more and more distressed. Finally, Patton randomly muttered, “This wouldn’t even be an issue if we were just not allergic to cats.”

_Not allergic to cats._

For some reason, the idea lodged itself in Thomas’ psyche. Could it be that simple? Was it worth trying? He was beginning to feel the panic worsen despite Virgil’s efforts, but maybe that was part of the problem. He looked past David and the cat at Virgil, who looked back with fear in his eyes at what he knew Thomas was thinking. But Thomas just nodded, and Virgil dropped his hands, letting the full force of his anxiety hit him.

The anxious feelings kicked in hard, and it was all Thomas could do to not let them immediately take control as David was practically handing the cat over. He forced all of the nervous energy to latch onto Patton’s idea, and then thrust all of it back to where he’d felt that power inside himself. He pushed them closer, bit by bit, and just when he thought he couldn’t contain it any longer, the two made contact.

There was an explosion of light, blinding everyone in the circle and knocking David back a few feet. Once it was gone, a cloud of dust had replaced it, obscuring Thomas from the others’ view. David lifted his hand, summoning a breeze to blow the dust away. What was revealed behind it shocked everyone.

There, standing in the middle of a large scorch mark on the ground, was Thomas, gently stroking the cat in his arms as it purred. There was no sign of distress in his face, no red nose or watery eyes, or even any sneezing. Just Thomas standing there looking proud as he cuddled with the clearly satisfied ball of fluff in his arms.

“It worked,” Logan whispered, too shocked to say anything more. Roman simply stared in awe while Virgil tried his hardest not to smile at the adorable sight. Patton was practically bouncing in his spot as he squished his own face in joy. But it was David’s reaction that drew everyone’s attention.

He carefully walked up to stroke the cat himself while examining Thomas.

“You changed yourself to not be allergic to cats.”

“Yep.”

“You did it.” David sounded so relieved. “You actually did it.”

Thomas could practically see what was about to happen, so quickly dropped the cat on the ground as David pulled him into a tight hug and spun him around in joy.

“You did it! I’m so proud of you, Thomas!”

“That’s great,” Thomas choked out, “but could you please put me down?”

David obliged after another twirl. Thomas immediately went over and picked up the cat from where it had wandered over to the mirror. Thomas looked at himself in the mirror, the cat in his arms. He liked the patchwork look of the cat’s fur. Remembering what David had said before, he concentrated on the idea he’d gotten, and snapped his fingers.

There was a flash of purple light, and suddenly Thomas’ shirt had changed to match the cat’s fur. The others gasped in amazement.

“Just thought I’d try something different.” He gave himself a once over in the mirror before deciding it would help if it were a little larger. He snapped his fingers, barely needing to conjure the image in his head before the flash of purple transformed the mirror.

Patton actually clapped his hands at that. Roman and even Virgil looked impressed as Logan commented, “Remarkable.” David simply beamed.

Thomas beamed back at them before another thought occurred to him. He pulled one of his hands out from under the cat, and with a third flash of purple caused a notebook and pen to appear, which he threw at Logan.

“Oh, thank goodness. I really need to get this all written down for future reference.”

Patton giggled as he joined the others in front of the new mirror to stroke the cat, all of their allergies gone as well. David looked down at Thomas, smiling proudly.

“I’m really proud of you. And I’m sorry about putting so much pressure on you to get them to work so quickly. It wasn’t right of me to assume you could figure this out that easily.”

“It’s okay. You were just excited and wanted me to feel the same joy you have about these powers as quickly as possible as well as avoid any disasters. And I know that sometimes we can work ourselves up over things like that. And that’s okay.”

Their eyes met, and Thomas could see the gratitude in David’s face.

“Besides, you make a pretty good teacher.”

David blushed and looked away sheepishly, but his smile never wavered.

“Just remember,” David finally replied, “these changes will only be true out here in the cosmos. Once we go back home, your allergies will be back to normal. Our powers may be great, but we still have limits.”

Thomas made to acknowledge that he understood that. Unfortunately, his legs suddenly started trying to give out, and it took all his strength to grab onto David before he fell. David quickly grabbed him as the sides rushed forward to hold him up.

“Uh, what just happened?” Roman asked, looking equal parts confused and concerned.

“It’s okay, you’re just a little fatigued. You may be able to use your powers now, but it’ll be a while before you can use them extensively. We’re going to have to work on building up your stamina.”

Thomas nodded as they carefully walked him over to the hover craft. In truth, he was feeling a little exhausted all of a sudden. But sitting down in his seat with a cat in his lap was helping to ease the fatigue.

“Will the rest of us be able to use his powers like that?” Roman asked as they settled into their own seats.

“In time. Since you’re all part of Thomas, you should be able to figure it out as the knowledge trickles down through Thomas’ psyche. Though I may still need to give each of you some personal lessons just to be sure. But that can wait for when Thomas can last a little longer.”

Thomas frowned at that.

“Hey, it was the same with me. When I first unlocked them, I tried doing everything with my powers and ended up so exhausted that I woke myself up back home. It took a week for me to be able to start traveling again after that.”

“A week?!”

“Yeah, because I had to learn all of those lessons the hard way. I didn’t have a teacher who had my best interests in mind. That’s why I need you to listen to me when I say we need to take a break, or that we shouldn’t try something just yet, or that something you are thinking of doing is not an appropriate use.”

“But they're Thomas’ powers,” Roman pointed out. “Wouldn’t that mean that he should get the final say on when we use them?”

“Yes, and once you all fully understand what you can do, and what you shouldn’t do, you will have free reign to use them as you please. But until then I need you to trust that any restrictions I put on them are out of concern for your physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. We may have the power to reshape reality, but we are not gods who cannot be called to answer for our deeds. Our actions still have consequences.”

As Thomas pondered all this, he suddenly felt a lot better about the lesson being over. Once again, he shot a grateful smile at David, who smiled back before settling in and vanishing the mirror from where it still stood in the field.

“In any case, I think it’s time to finish up the tour.”

The five passengers quickly buckled themselves in. With everyone settled, David revved the engines once more. The craft briskly ascended into the sky, and they soon took off, flying quickly but gently southward.

“And I’ve saved the best part for last: The Tower.”


End file.
